'Your fault. Just like Finn.' His mind kept repeating like a broken record, again and again, as the winter child tried to keep the tears in.

He should have seen it coming. If he'd been just a little faster, better, maybe…

Maybe…

Maybe…

Maybe…

Did he even deserve to see his memories?

He always found a way to mess up. For as long as he could remember that was the way things were.

Your fault.

What if whatever happened was – What if he did something and…

What if he was the reason, he was stuck like this? Alone? Unwanted? The odd one out? The youngest seasonal ever and not just by a year or two, but by at least seven. The only one without any memories, any past, to relate to.

Your fault.

Did he do something to end up like this?

His pale fingers touched the glass creating a frosted drawing of Sandy.

Your fault.

Sandy is – was a great Guardian. A great person, too. He waved at Jack a couple of times at night.

He was useful. Respected. Loved.

That arrow should have hit Jack. The kids wouldn't even notice if he suddenly… disappeared.

Without Sandy…

A soft thump snapped him out of his thoughts, and he lifted his head.

Bunny looked at him expectantly from his spot right in front of him and Jack clenched his hand, fighting the urge to play with the old bracelet tied to his wrist.

Was he going to tell Jack off for what happened? To make him apologize or – or kick him out?

Jack thought that after all that chase game and the jokes, they might have at least overcome the Blizzard of '68 / Kidnapping err…. stuff?

As strange as the whole situation between the two of them was… With Bunny hating him, then ignoring him, then out of nowhere joking with him…

Jack liked the Easter Guardian. He wasn't even sure why; He didn't know a single thing about him! But there was something about Bunny that was… soothing? Calming? Which made absolutely no sense and it frustrated Jack to no end that he couldn't make out why.

What he did know was that he wasn't ready to be left alone all over again just like that. He couldn't handle that.

Aster spoke before Jack managed to decide if bolting was the solution out of this mess.

"How are yah feeling?"

Jack blinked.

That's a new one…

He opened his mouth, but he had no idea what to say.

"I - I just… I whish I could have done something." Jack finally said, his shoulders dropping in defeat.

"Done something?" Aster repeated in disbelief.

How the kit developed Sara's stupid selflessness when he couldn't even remember her was beyond him.

Aster came here thinking that maybe Jack was shaken after the fight – he never imagined the kid would start blaming himself for it!

"Ya stood up to Pitch, saved us and think that isn't above 'done something'?!" he snapped making Jack look up stunned.

"But Sandy- "

"Would be proud." Aster says forceful, traying to make the kit understood. "Just like we ar'." He finished, looking at him in the eyes. Jack's blue eyes. "Got it?"

Aster tried to concentrate on the situation. To bury all these emotions that were raging inside him at the difference.

His kit was here.

But at the same time, he wasn't.

Jack bit his lip, just like Sara used to do in moments like this, and Aster had to bite his tongue to keep himself from yelling the truth about who both of them were, then beg for forgiveness for what happened that day and for the centuries that followed.

It's not the time.

It's not the time.

It's not the time.

Then Jack nodded, a tiny smile on his lips.

It was enough for now.

ROTG

"As much as it pains me to say it old friend…" North said, his voice grave. "This time Easter is more important that Christmas." He finished, getting out of the elevator.

Jack never thought Bunny could look so stunned. The Guardian of Hope stood there frozen until his ears perked up and he started grinning like he just won the lottery.

"Hey! Did everyone hear that?!" he yelled, making Jack snicker.

"We must hurry to vhe Warren." North continued before Jack could make fun of Bunny. "To vhe sleigh!"

Aster quickly cut in front of the old Cossack, grinning.

"Oh no, mate. My Warren – my rules." He said, a lost spark back in his eyes. "Buckle up."

Understatement flashed before North's eyes as Aster tapped his foot on the floor.

"Shostakovich!" he breathed then reached out to grab onto something as he fell, accidentally dragging Tooth with him instead.

Jack yelped as he fell, but he was still smiling, whooping and squealing at the fast turns.

Aster jumped in last, but he was the first to reach the Warren.

North crashed next, finally letting go of a very disoriented Tooth, then Jack burst in flipping through the air once then landing softly on his feet.

Phil and an elf crashed next to them and Baby Tooth flew in last.

"Buckle up." North chuckled as he got on his feet. "Very funny."

Aster ignored him as he focused on his child.

His kit who was now staring at his own home in wonder, letting out a breathless 'wow' in admiration.

Something old and almost forgotten started burning inside Aster at the view, making him grin.

Jack looked around stunned. This place was bigger than Santoff Claussen! Never in all his three hundred years had he ever seen so much green!

Trees of all sizes, flowers he didn't even recognize, soft grass that grew wilder on some parts, but was shorter on others.

This – This was spring.

This was hope and new beginnings.

"Welcome, to the Warren-" Aster started to say before he stopped abruptly, his grin disappearing. "Something's up." He announced, turning towards one of the tunnels and getting out his boomerangs.

ROTG

"When was the last time any of you hung out with kids?"

'Three hundred years, six months and four days ago.' Aster thought, biting his tongue to keep the words in.

ROTG

Aster laughed as he put Sophie down to let her run with the eggs a little. He turned around trying to spot Jack. The kit had been uncharacteristically quiet for about a minute now.

He opened his mouth once he finally spotted him on top of his staff, but his words died in his throat as he realized where Jack was looking.

The East Wing.

Where Sarah was buried.

Also, where Jack's tomb stone was.

He took the kit there a few times. Very few. But could he remember them?

Aster held his breath as he watched Jack frown, tilting his head a little like he wanted to peek beyond the hill.

He might not remember the place, but he would recognize himself in the painting Bunny made right above the graves. Of him and Sarah.

Aster had never wished for Jack to wander off so much before.

Because if he saw the paining that meant Aster could tell him.

The crushed hope left a bitter taste in his mouth as he watched Jack shook his head and turn around, away from the East Wing.

ROTG

"I got this. Really." Jack pressed as he balanced Sophie in his arms.

Aster's hands curled into fists, another 'no' on his lips, but Jack wasn't giving in.

Watching Bunny play with Sophie had been… odd. A very strong déjà vu that kept growing and growing until he somehow ended up gazing at a hill with a headache and a weird impulse to walk forward.

And the voice…

Something familiar…

Jack needed to get away. He needed air. Space to think.

"Be careful." Aster grudgingly said in the end, even as his instincts screamed at him to not let the kit out of his sight.

Jack smiled.

"I will."

ROTG

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Maybe not… But you are afraid of something."

Jack approached carefully from behind, keeping his eyes on Pitch and listening for anything that might try to attack him.

"You think so, huh?" he said casual, trying to sound bored.

"I know so." Pitch corrected. "It's the one thing I always know… Peoples greatest fears." The boogieman suddenly turned around, making Jack tense. "Yours is that no one will ever believe in you… You fear of never belonging again – Of never belonging ever."

The words hit his very core – knocking the air out of his lungs and freezing the already cold blood that flowed in Jack's veins.

He took a step back in shock, but the ground melted under his feet and he found himself falling with a yelp, then hitting the ground hard.

His staff flew out of his hands, making him panic before his fingers finally curled around the familiar wood. The shadows kept dancing around him, the Nightmare King's chuckles kept bouncing off walls, echoing louder and louder.

"And most of all, you're afraid you'll never know why – Why you? What could you have possibly done to end up like this? Why were you chosen to be like this?"

Pitch's voice came from everywhere, cornering the winter child until he was suddenly right in front of Jack, smirking.

"Well fear not – For the answer to that is right here." He finished and pulled out the memory box.

The child was so stunned, he stopped shaking all together.

"Do you want them Jack?" Pitch continued looking genuine. "Your memories?"

A war of thoughts and feelings started in his mind. He reached out but then stopped before he could touch them.

Jack wanted answers. Or did he?

What if he truly had been alone?

What if he hadn't but he messed up somehow?

What did the voices he kept hearing meant?

Pitch disappeared before Jack could reach out again.

He flew after the boogieman in panic. He couldn't lose his only chance of finding out the truth.

"Everything you've always been wandering… What you always wanted to know… in this little box!" Pitch laughed as he watched Jack make his way through the darkness.

It was like an evil twisted fun house.

Every time Jack turned around Pitch's shadow would disappear then reappear in more places at once. The winter spirit was surrounded and all alone at the same time.

"Why did you end up like this? Unseen. Unable to reach out to anyone!" continued the mockery. "You want the answers so badly. You want to grab them and fly off, but you're afraid of what the Guardians will think."

He was saying every right word. Every bit of the painful truth – even the parts that Jack couldn't figure out why they were true.

Why did he care what the Guardians would think?

He didn't own them anything so why did it feel so important?!

Backed again into a corner, Jack's breathing quickened, frightened blue eyes darting off in all directions like a spooked bunny, unable to spot the real Pitch.

"You're afraid of disappointing them."

He was.

But why?

"Let me ease your mind on one thing… They'll never accept you. Not really. You never belonged and you never will!"

Jack was reaching his breaking point.

The war inside him intensified making him squeeze his eyes shut in a futile attempt of trying to ignore the suffocating darkness around him.

"Stop it – Stop it!"

They were lies! They had to be!

LIES! LIES! LIES! LIES!

There had to be something!

Nightmare sand burst out of nowhere and Jack hissed as a few drops of blood fell from the fresh cut on his wrist. He was too disoriented to notice his bracelet was missing.

"Face it, Jack." Pitch said, appearing from the shadows. "You're not a guardian."

He's known that from the beginning, but he'd never give in to anyone.

"You don't know what I am!" he snarled, looking almost feral.

"Of course, I do!" grinned Pitch. "You're Jack Frost. You make a mess wherever you go. Why, you're doing it right now!" he finished with a laugh and tossed the memory box to Jack, who caught it on instinct.

It took a moment for the words to register.

"What did you do?" Jack cried as horror took over.

What time it was? Why had he not seen more Nightmares?

"More to the point Jack – What did you do?" he laughed, eyes flashing in triumph as he disappeared again.

Jack charged forward but stopped abruptly at the sight of the eggshells.

"Happy Easter, Jack."

"No…"

Jack started backing away.

This couldn't be happening.

Everything was… was…

The floor crumbled under him and he was falling again, only this time, fresh cold snow greeted him when he landed.

"What do you think the Guardians would do when they found out you were with me instead of helping them?" Pitch asked making Jack turn around. "Think they'll forgive you?"

Jack raised his staff ready to blast him, when Pitch held out a fist, making Jack halt.

"Baby Tooth!"

The little fairy was struggling to get free, but without success.

"The staff, Jack." Pitch said, holding his free hand towards him. "You have a bad habit of interfering. Now hand it over – and I'll let her go." He finished and squeezed his fist when Baby Tooth started twittering, making Jack growl.

He'd never forgive himself if she got hurt because of him.

He finally understood why Pitch brought him to Antarctica. If he took Jack's conduit, the kid would never make it back to America in this decade. He would literally bench Jack from the fight.

The terror in Baby Tooth's eyes finally made him move, and Jack flipped his staff over to hand it to Pitch.

The delicate frost patterns disappeared on an instant, the wood looking almost dead in Pitch's hand.

"Alright." Jack said, trying to sound calm. "Now let her go."

"Nah." Pitch answered, making a chill run down his spine.

The little fairy finally had enough. Squirming, she managed to hit his hand hard with her beak, making the Nightmare King yell.

"NO!" Jack yelled when Pitch threw her of a cliff.

How could he be so stupid?!

If only he'd have his staff, he'd have been able to stop her fall and –

His thoughts were cut abruptly as pain took over his body. It was like his blood turned into fire and knives poked in his bones while his muscles were trying to rip themselves apart.

Pitch broke his staff.

A scream ripped itself out of Jack's mouth.

He never heard of anybody having their conduit broken.

Did they die after it? The pain certainly made Jack wish he was dead.

Nightmare sand blasted him against the same iceberg Baby Tooth hit and everything went black.

ROTG

Pitch laughed as he dropped the remains of Jack's staff at the bottom of the pit and turned around.

It was time to pay a visit to the boy's father.

ROTG

"I checked everywhere! There's nothing!"

"Let's go home."

"No Easter this year..."

"There's no such thing as the Easter Bunny."

There were no eggs anywhere.

Two kids already walked through him, but Aster didn't care.

Because Jack wasn't there.

Did he choose not to come back? He looked extremely anxious to get out of the Warren…

They searched everywhere, but the sudden lost of so many believers in so little hours crippled all of them.

"What's the matter?" Pitch mocked as he materialized in front of them. "Did a few children walk through the little rabbit?" he laughed as the remaining Guardians tensed.

Aster pulled out a boomerang, but Pitch's next words froze him in his tracks.

"Imagine just how would it feel to have child after child walk through you for 300 years – might just leave you a little hopeless don't you think?"

The words stung. Hard and deep, leaving a wound that might never close.

"How did you know?!" Aster snarled, trying to concentrate on the anger.

"Oh please, rabbit. Children get scared so easily whenthey're alone. And as you know fear is my specialty."

Aster threw his boomerang, but it didn't have as much momentum as it used to.

Pitch merely sidestepped with a smirk.

"Now, now. As much as I'd love to stay and chat, I've got places to be and people to scare. I just wanted to announce you I've had a little free time, so I crossed a few things off my schedule a little early. A little Easter present if you want!" he laughed and threw something at Aster, who caught it on reflex.

Pitch disappeared before North's sword could hit him.

"Bunny? What is it?" asked Tooth as she took a step forward before stopping at his expression.

North cursed at the sight of Jack's bloody bracelet in his trembling hand, but for Aster it was just white noise.

Everything but the bracelet became blurry. He didn't realize he was shaking, but he was vague aware that Tooth collapsed on the grass crying.

Jack – his kit – couldn't be dead. Not again. Not like this! Not to Pitch! Not like Sarah…

He came back!

Jack came back and he lost him again.

Aster started to shrink, but he didn't care.

He couldn't breathe.

He failed Jack. Again.

He shouldn't have left him alone.

He was – He would – he should have-

His limbs felt heavy. He felt cold.

A drop of blood fell from the bracelet.

Jack wasn't here.