Okay, guys, here's the last chapter of arc two. I haven't yet edited arc three, but I'll do my best to do that over the weekend so I can post up the next chapter no later than Monday. Maybe sooner. But I'll try very hard to kick myself into doing it no later than Monday. I would just push myself to do it immediately, but it's looking like I'm getting dragged into trying Inktober at the last minute, and I have to prepare for it. *laughs hysterically* I'm a case of nerves, haha. My hubby suggested I do a Winter Magic coloring book since I've already done a coloring book, which means that Jack will feature heavily in it. Only, in order to publish it, it has to be a new version of Jack, not based off of ROTG. I'm already faceblind as it is, so creating a new character design? *eye twitches* Haha, yeah, I kind of need the remaining time to prepare, but I'll carve out a little time to edit over the weekend too. ;)

Anyway, I'll just let you guys get on with the chapter, since you're all looking forward to that anyway. I'm sorry if I don't get around to responding to people in a timely manner. I still adore the reviews. A lot. I'm just a little bundle of nerves over here who is trying to picture Jack with a different face when I already have a face recognition condition. *snickers* So yeah, getting some reviews might actually help a bit with getting me to take a deep breath and relax. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians or the Guardians of Childhood books.

After catching a few passersby and asking them about Manny's whereabouts, he bolted to the break room. Sure enough, Manny was enjoying a cup of coffee and a couple donuts. It was as though he was taking a normal break from a normal job down on Earth.

Jack stormed toward him. "When did you think you were going to tell me about this?" He slammed the paper onto the table in front of Manny. He picked it up, read it, and then deleted it before anyone else could read it.

"So you managed to find the file," said Manny, not answering the question, but since when did he ever? "How do you feel, Jack, now that you know this?"

"Honestly?" A few hysterical laughs escaped his lips, but he wasn't at all happy. "I'm kind of freaked out! Why wouldn't you tell me something that important?"

Manny's face finally sobered up, no longer filled with the mirth or trickery it usually possessed. For the first time in his life, he was seeing Manny take something seriously. He felt he should have been relieved by this, but it only served to freak him out more.

"Pitch hurt you pretty bad, you know."

"Yeah, apparently!" Jack pressed at his temples to stave off the headache he could feel coming on. "But why wouldn't you tell me about this?"

"You've been vulnerable up until now," said Manny. "You still are a little bit. But you're stronger than you've ever been before, so you'll be fine."

Jack's legs grew less able to support him, and he slunk down into a chair opposite Manny. "So you had to reset me?" The pointed stare that Manny gave in response to that question was all the answer Jack needed. He placed his head in his hands. "I'm Nightlight?"

Manny then shook his head and patted Jack on the shoulder. "No, you're Jack. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. But yes, you were Nightlight. We've known each other a very long time. Do you remember anything from before?"

Jack shook his head. He felt a yawning emptiness in his soul at the lack of the memories that he knew should be there and weren't. Even Tooth wouldn't be able to help him with these memories. He doubted she could trigger memories of another life.

Looking up at Manny again, he said, "So when you told the staff that Nightlight was going to take over for you..."

He responded with a nod. "I meant you, yes. And I'm sorry that I put you up to that. The others are going to have a hard time distinguishing between Jack and Nightlight. Most of them don't understand how much a reset will change a person."

Jack sighed and let his shoulders droop. "Then I guess I'd better start getting used to it." He looked back up at Manny. "But you'll still call me Jack, right? You don't expect me to live up to that-that guy who-" Jack couldn't figure out how to describe his feelings, but Manny waved his hand like he understood anyway.

"You be Jack. You're very good at being Jack, and I trust you with my life. You'll never be Nightlight again, but that's okay. Jack is every bit as good of a person as Nightlight was." Jack looked into Manny's eyes to discern whether he was saying these things to shut him up or if he actually meant them. He was met with nothing but sincerity.

"You mean that?" said Jack. "I'm not less than him?"

Manny shook his head. "Not one bit. You amaze me every day with the things you do. I mean, decorating with paintballs? Who else would have had a brilliant idea like that?"

Jack couldn't help but laugh at that, but one more thing nagged at him. "What's with these new powers? They seemed a lot like the ones I read about in Nightlight's file."

Manny nodded at this, not even trying to weasel his way out of the question this time. "They are. They'll manifest differently this time, but I didn't want to shift you to a set of powers you were unfamiliar with. Once you were done with being the spirit of winter, I switched you back to the powers you knew."

"But I don't remember these powers."

"You do deep down. Why do you think you learned how to fly and glow so quickly? You'll learn how to do some of the other things Nightlight could do in time. Or maybe you'll surprise us and start doing things that Nightlight couldn't."

Jack chuckled at this. "I do tend to do that, don't I?"

An answering chuckle from Manny. "All the time, Jack. You amaze us all the time."

Jack ended his conversation with Manny and headed back to the control room. He had to try and console the Guardians since he had left them in a fright. "Sorry about that, guys," he said, then laughed at himself. "It's okay though. Nightlight is okay."

"Really?" said Tooth, ruffling up her feathers. "Where is he?"

Jack turned away from the screen as he felt a tear slip out unbidden from his eye. Thank goodness he didn't have to deal with frozen tears anymore. He grasped the tear before it could fall off his face, then held it in his hand as he looked at it. A girl's face flashed through his mind. A girl whose tears he had held as he held his own now. He would ask Manny about that later.

For now, he turned to face the Guardians, smiled at them, and said, "I'll tell you when he's ready to let you know, okay?" They seemed a little bit dejected at that announcement, but didn't make a fuss. Jack then turned off the screen and plopped into a chair, exhausted from that whole ordeal.

As he relaxed, he began glowing again, and he didn't try to stop it. It was okay if people called him Nightlight, he realized. It wasn't who he was anymore, but he didn't mind being remembered that way so long as his close friends knew to call him Jack.

After he'd rested for a while, he jumped out of the chair and ran off. They may call him by the wrong name, but he was going to imprint who he was into their minds one way or another. His next mission: exploding water balloons.

Jack laughed to himself as he prepared the items for his next prank. As much as he had changed from one lifetime to the next, some things hadn't changed all that much. And the longer he thought on it, the more he understood how Manny saw him. He'd grown. He'd matured. He'd changed. But he was still the friend Manny had always known and loved.

He peered into the break room and lobbed a water balloon at Manny with a shout of "Think fast!" before it exploded all over the poor guy. Jack's ears were met with an incurable laughter. Soon Jack found himself laughing too as they both got into an all out water balloon battle.

As the two stood dripping dry, Jack realized that he no longer saw Manny in that irritated light. He understood where the guy had been coming from, and why he had hidden all this information from him for so long. Being reset was risky business. Pitch was going to be so upset once he learned the truth. The thought amused him more than he cared to admit.

Manny chucked a balloon Jack's way, and Jack caught it without breaking. The two shared a conspiratorial smirk. Manny then said, "Shall we go and teach all these slow people what your real name is?"

Jack laughed. "You're on!" Moments later, one frustrated employee after another emerged dripping wet from their offices. They wondered what they were going to do with their strange new boss. Manny handed Jack another water balloon. Jack pelted the next person with the amazing precision he'd developed from all his years as Jack Frost. A yelp was his reward, and he cheered as he and Manny shared a high five.

"So what should we do tomorrow?" said Manny once they ran out of balloons.

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. Try to take over the world?" He didn't know if Manny had caught the reference, but the snort followed by laughter was worth it all the same.

An image flashed through Jack's mind, and he turned toward Manny. "Didn't you used to like chocolate pops?"

Manny's eyes lit up at seeing Jack having remembered something like this. "Still do. Do you have any?"

"I might be able to scrounge up a few," said Jack as they wandered off towards Jack's private quarters. His past self never would have guessed he'd hang out with the former Man in the Moon as they discussed nostalgia. But his past self also hadn't remembered how much fun he used to have with this guy either. He still didn't remember it well, but the feeling was coming back. And it was a good feeling.

He could hardly believe it, but he seemed to have made his peace with MIM. By becoming him. And he found that he did not regret it. He looked forward to what new adventures he could get up to on the moon.

"Last one to my room has to eat a rotten egg!"

"Has to EAT a-wait, Jack... Jack, that's not how the rules work!"

But Jack was already running through the halls laughing at the top of his lungs. Manny ran behind him lest he be forced to eat a rotten egg. "If I get to the room before you do, I'm gonna record you eating that egg and send it to Bunny!"

Manny's eyes widened at the prospect of such embarrassment, and he picked up his pace. He and Jack raced neck and neck until they collapsed into a fit of giggles in the middle of the floor. They were in some random hallway. Manny then reached over and patted Jack on the head. "You may have changed, Jack, but in all the important ways, you haven't changed a bit."

"Uh huh," said Jack, "and you had better return the favor when you get reset. I just started to like you, darn it. I don't want to suddenly lose you."

Manny then offered Jack a threatening smirk as he said, "I can always make you like me a little less if it would help."

Jack's eyes narrowed as he regarded the man with suspicion. "...How?" Without another word, Manny bolted up and took off running for Jack's room again. It took several seconds for Jack to process this before he realized what Manny was doing. Jack bolted up and started chasing him down. "No, wait! You were supposed to be the one to eat the rotten egg!"

"Bunny will love it a lot more if the video features you, don't you think?" said Manny.

"DON'T YOU DARE!"

Ah, old friends. Some things never changed.

And that's the end of arc two. I'll start arc three soon, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one in the meantime if you're willing to give them. :)

Now don't mind me. I've got to go off to my twitchy corner to do some more twitching in preparation for Inktober. ;) See you all next time, and thanks for reading!