A/N: HELLO! I'M BACK! I'm sorry it's been such a long time! I have no idea when the next update will be, but I just figured I'd keep updating every so often rather than leave this story dead so here we go!

Without further ado, please enjoy!

Chapter 10: Trust is Earned?

"Ah, Jack Frost, what nice surprise."

Jack sneered at the accented voice. Although his heart hammered against his chest, he stood tall and walked towards the bars of the cell without showing fear. Outside the skylight, Wind stood still as she listened.

Santa then entered the room along with the other Guardians, the Tooth Fairy, looking rather dull he noticed, dragging in last. Their silhouettes loomed over him as the light from outside the door shone in, with Santa's in particular looking like a mountain. He couldn't really see their faces as they were dimmed with shadows, but their demeanor told him everything he needed to know.

For a small second, the winter spirit's icy blue eyes meet the colors of green, golden, purple, and blue.

Finally, Jack spoke, his voice low, cold, and dangerous, "How did you find me?"

"Oh, great. It can form full sentences," the Easter Kangaroo, with his arms crossed, sneered.

"Simple," the stout man in red answered with a smug matter of fact tone, one that made Jack fume further. "You don't exactly cover your feet, Jack Frost."

"It's cover your tracks…plus, that's not even a good idiom to use in this situation..."

Santa continued, unfazed by Bunny's mumbled correction. "You see, we've noticed you seem quite weak in battle during our first encounter and since warmer weather is approaching, we knew winter spirits such as yourself would have gone northward anyway. So, by teleporting many of my yetis to where we thought you might be, they eventually spotted you in the sky above Québec. "

Jack seethed.

"You will release me." His icy-blue eyes narrowed. At that moment, he was increasingly aware of the manacles barely cutting into his skin, making him wince slightly with his icy expression.

"No." Santa squared up. "Instead, you will show your true form."

Jack's expression contorted into one of confusion as he mouthed the words "true form." What in the seven shades of snow is he talking about?

Before the winter spirit could react further, he closed his eyes right as the man in red threw a handful of blue powder in his face, causing him to cough and sputter violently for a few seconds after accidentally inhaling some of the particles.

"What—cough—the hell—cough—was that for?!"

Jack opened his scowling blue eyes to see all of the Guardians staring wide-eyed at him as if he'd grown another head. He would've laughed at their expressions if he hadn't just been assaulted with powder... Santa soon broke the silence.

"Funny…dat was supposed to vork," he said, pulling an old jar of the same blue powder out of his coat pocket to examine it.

"You're telling me, mate!" Bunny quipped while the Sandman nodded. "Look at 'im! He's the same!"

"What are you talking abo-" Jack was cut off.

"North," the Tooth Fairy hastily whispered, her big purple eyes not leaving the winter spirit. "Why don't you give it another go? Maybe that wasn't enough."

The Sandman gave a thumbs up to that.

Jack, on the other hand, was not having it.

"WOULD YOU AT LEAST TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!"

The Guardians all froze at the booming voice they didn't expect to hear. Santa shuffled awkwardly before pointing to the jar in his large hand and stating flatly, his brow furrowed.

"This is supposed to reveal your true form to us."

Jack's thin frame stood baffled again for a second before asking, "You mean, like...I'm a shapeshifter or something?"

True, Jack had heard about shapeshifters in the spirit realm before but had never encountered one before. It just confirmed to him how crazy and far-fetched rumors about himself could be.

With his eyes narrowed, Santa firmly searched the winter spirit's blue eyes for truth. "Are you not?"

Before he could answer, the Easter Bunny scoffed, "Mate, wake up! He's playing a game with us!"

Santa, without breaking eye contact with the supposed wintry monster before them, simply replied with "Let him speak, Bunny."

Bunny scoffed again, shaking his head at the nonsense. Meanwhile, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman exchanged looks of what seemed like concern.

At being given the chance to speak, Jack's ire diminished a little. He might never get another chance to explain. "No. No, I'm not a shapeshifter or anything stupid like that. I've always looked like this. I swear I'm just a winter spirit."

"And a child murderer." Bunny mentioned, his ears pinned back. Jack scowled fiercely at him.

"And I never murdered anyone either!"

"Oh, bull! Everyone knows it, Frost! You're evil! You're lucky I'm holding back right now after what happened in '68!"

By this time, Bunny was in Jack's face with only the bars to separate them. Jack was unmoved, staring defiantly back up into the fuming spring spirit's green eyes.

"You don't know anything about me."

...

With tension high in the room, Santa spoke again, his hand brushing through his white beard while he observed the spirit. "How can we be sure you're speaking the truth?"

Jack Frost, once so sure of himself, deflated slightly, looking down. What proof did he have to show them? They probably wouldn't believe him anyway if he did.

"I...I don't know."

A pause.

The Tooth Fairy then spoke up, her voice small but strong.

"Well, you might not be a shapeshifter as we thought, but he's the proof that you have some amount of good in your heart, we just can't trust you. Trust is earned, after all."

As he stared at the Fairy Queen, a thought smacked him in the face. Baby Tooth!

"Wait! You can ask one of your fairies!"

She looked almost upset as she responded, "What are you talking about, they're all, a-all of them are gone."

Tears started to form in her purple eyes. Jack was confused by this, but continued.

"No, no! Really! Her name is Baby Tooth!"

"I-I think I'm going to-"

And just like that, the Tooth Fairy went limp, the Sandman catching her frail form.

The large rabbit lunged forward, "Look a' what you've done now!"

Jack was grabbed by the collar of his hoodie and slammed into the bars by Bunny's firm angry grip, his bare feet dangling in the air. Jack held his defiant gaze, knowing he'd done nothing but told the truth, Bunny's warm breath uncomfortably grazing his face and neck.

"I outta break your neck for tha'!"

His fierce emerald green gaze began to pierce through Jack's steely sapphire blue one, a tinge of nervousness holding onto Jack's heart until the moment Santa interrupted.

"Bunny, leave him! We need to worry about Tooth now..."

The strong warm huff from the large rabbit's nose was enough to make Jack flinch. Just when Jack began to fear that the spirit of Easter was going to hold his ground, he reluctantly let go, but not without keeping his death glare on the winter spirit.

"Just wait, you won't be so lucky next time, frostbite," Bunnymund spat, turning to follow the Sandman out the door while the large man in red carried the unconscious Fairy Queen.

"Oh, and don't bother freezing your way out of those," he smugly voiced, "they've been enchanted."

Jack glanced down at the cuffs around his sore wrists.

"Gee, thanks, but I already figured that one out."

The Easter Kangaroo sneered, "Good," before shutting the door, leaving Jack in darkness again with all but a smidge of moonlight shining through the skylight above while a few questions crossed his mind.

What was she saying about trust? Trust is earned? I thought they wanted to get rid of me, why do they need to trust me?

Jack silently sighed, hugging his knees as he slid down the wall when the tingling of an elf reminded him of what he was really supposed to be doing; finding his conduit.

A certain yeti was just checking up on the production of toys on the top floor when the Guardians rushed out of a room with North holding what appeared to be an unconscious Queen Toothiana. North approached the worried yeti while Bunnymund and Sandy followed after him.

"Phil, please take Tooth to the infirmary and make sure she's taken care of."

"Warga ablarbgh?"

"Toothy fainted," North answered while tenderly placing her in the arms of the yeti.

"Wrabagh?"

"That damn winter devil," Bunnymund cut in, "Jack Frost!"

Phil froze at the mention of that name. Jack Frost? Inside the Workshop?

"Ragharph argh?!"

"No, he didn't sneak in, we brought him here," North explained.

"Wrabagh!"

"All vill be explained later, Phil," North sighed, "now, please take care of Tooth, we must figure out our next plan of action."

Phil nodded understandingly and turned to head off to the infirmary, ducking occasionally to avoid the flying colorful toys all around him. He looked down at the unconscious fairy in his arms.

The once mighty Fairy Queen looked very sickly and frail. Her feathers had lost their colorful gleam which filled his heart with sadness and worry. All the yetis had heard of what happened, how Toothiana's fairies were stolen by the Nightmare King. And he can see just how it has taken its toll on her. But he didn't understand what Jack Frost had to do with anything.

He'd heard that some yetis were called on by North to teleport about a day ago, but he didn't question it, partially because he was too busy speeding up toy production. Maybe that had something to do with the winter spirit.

All in all, the burly yeti couldn't believe that the cold spirit was finally inside the workshop. For about 200 years, Jack Frost had fervently tried and failed to breach the magical place, no thanks to himself and the other yetis. One of the rules of the workshop, after all, was no outsiders allowed other than the Guardians and a select few spirits. They couldn't just allow a known dangerous winter spirit in, who knows what damage he could do inside! However, to Phil at least, Jack Frost didn't really seem that dangerous to begin with.

He seemed lonely and bored standing outside the workshop in the vast snow. Well, that was before he began to throw snowballs at and annoy all the yetis, Phil in particular.

Phil turned the corner of a corridor, nearing the infirmary. When finally inside, he shooed away the elves on the nearest bed before laying the fairy down. He then gathered the fluffy pillows and placed them under her slender legs above heart level to increase blood flow to her head. That should do it.

The yeti decided to sit in one of the chairs near the bed and wait for her to wake. Besides, he wouldn't mind the wait, he needed a break anyway. After a moment, he began to think about Jack Frost again.

He surely was infamous, but Phil couldn't see why. Jack was playful and mischievous when trying to break in, not malicious or threatening. And the thin winter spirit didn't seem too powerful, but Phil guessed he could be wrong. The Guardians hated him though.

The fact that they willingly brought him inside the workshop surely meant that the winter spirit was in big trouble, and Phil silently hoped that Jack Frost was not directly in the path of their ire.

Afterall, guarding the entrances of the workshop would be terribly boring without him.

A/N:

So, what did you think of this chapter? Let me know in a review! Also, thanks for everyone that reviewed for Chapter 9! It really kept me going and gave me some good input! Again, I have no idea when the next update will be, but I'm trying my best not to leave this story dead. Anyways, thank you all for your continuous support and for reading, and until next time, bye!