I do not own ROTG

Merry Christmas!

The last chapter guys! *Notes are on the bottom*

Bunnymund just laughed. He knew that Jack was serious, but he just laughed. "Yeah, cause that's not going to blow up in your face."

"Jack, if we did that, we'll just be giving them what they want. You." Tooth replied. Sandy nodded in agreement with Tooth.

"That's only if we fail." Jack twirled his staff around and rested it over his shoulder. "Besides if it's anytime to strike them it would be now. After Pitch tried to break free they seem….weaker." Jack admitted.

"We still can't take that risk." North was very serious, but then again so was Jack.

"And if we don't take the risk, what then? We just sit around until they lose interest in us and go for the kids? Let what happen to me, happen to another child? And what if it was Jamie?"

That's when everyone looked at Jack with large eyes. Jack was attacking the weak spot of this situation.

"Or Sophie?" Jack looked directly at Bunny when as he said this. He knew that Bunny had an attachment to Sophie, similar to what he had with Jamie. "Or to any of the kids? We can't let history repeat itself."

Bunny grunted, "I hate it when he has a point." He clenched his paws into fists out of frustration.

"You'll have to stay near us at all times when the battle begins. No flying around." North knew that these rules would probably be forgotten in the heat of battle, but told him regardless.

Jack gave a nod, "Right."

Tooth shook her head, "I have a bad feeling about this." Sandy was giving Jack a 'I'm with her' stare.

"That's how you know it's going to be fun." Jack tried to make a light joke as winked at Tooth and Sandy. It was Jack's small way of trying to reassure them that he would be fine, well he hoped he would be at least.

Bunny stomped up to Jack. He looked as if he was going to punch him, but being Bunny, that was just his normal expression. "If they….If you…."

Jack knew what he was trying to say and smiled, "Don't worry they won't get to me, you just watch out for yourself out there, cottontail. You're getting sloppy." Jack smirked.

Bunny gave a small huff of laughter before he quickly turned it into a sigh, "Yeah sure whatever, frostbite."

"So where are we going to do this?" Tooth asked.

Bunny began listing aloud, "It's going to have to be somewhere they would be watching. We also need to make sure they aren't near any kids, they could try and use them against us."

"Not with children with a lot of belief, they're basically untouchable and can only contact them through dreams, and even then they still can't do anything…." Jack trailed off. That's when it hit him. A place the fearlings would be keeping an eye on and with children with powerful belief. He knew where to go. "I know where we have to go."

"Where?" North asked.

"We go to the place where it all started. Burgess."

Jack flew back to Burgess from the workshop. He just hoped that the plan was going to go as well as they discussed. It was night in Burgess. There was no moon in the sky, the only light were the stars. The shadows of the trees looked perfect for a fearling to jump out at any time. He flew down to his lake.

He stared at it. This was the first proper time that he got to have a long look at his lake after finding out that the fearlings had caused his death. It made Jack feel conflicted in a way. He was happy that he saved his sister and by doing so, he stopped the fearlings from getting to him. But it was also followed by anger and rage toward the fearlings.

"Reminiscing?"

Jack sighed as he turned around to see Pitch, but it was just Pitch. No fearlings were in sight. Yet. "Good to see you not cowering in a corner again."

"You're very amusing." Pitch stated. Jack knew that the fearlings were in control from his eyes.

"Like my jokes? I got a show on every Thursday."

"I think we both know, that now is not the time for games." Pitch smirked.

"I know what you want, and I won't let you have it." Jack stood his ground.

Pitch began to circle him, "So then why are you here without the other guardians?"

"I came here to deal with some old business." Jack sternly replied.

Pitch continued to circle Jack. "So you've figured finally pieced together the puzzle we gave you? Bravo, Jack. Bravo."

"And like I said before, I won't let you have what you want. You want me to become your vessel and the answer is no."

Pitch stopped in his tracks and looked directly at Jack with his piercing golden eyes. "You think you have a choice? You're our number one option, but you're not our only. We have inspected many children and we have other options besides you. Jamie and Sophie Bennett are on our list. They have a wonderful amount of belief, just like you, well I guess it does run in the family."

Jack had to use all his mental strength to make sure his jaw didn't fall to the ground. "What?"

"You didn't know? When you spoiled our plans your sister lived on, and those children are direct descendants of her."

"You're lying." Jack genuinely didn't know if they were lying or not.

"We would we lie about this. We have no need to, now that you know what we seek. Besides this truth also has a benefit for us."

Jack stood there just shocked for a moment, but he shook it off, even if it was true, he couldn't let it get his head out of the game.

"So what will it be, Jack? If we can't get you, we'll get the second best thing, your descendants. You become our new vessel or they'll be targeted next. And maybe little Sophie will want to go ice skating."

Frost began to grow from where Jack stood. He lifted up his staff and he pointed it toward Pitch in an aggressive manner. "What about Kozmotis? What will happen to him?" He had to change the subject.

"He will be free."

"And if I say yes, will you free him and stop this madness?"

"Yes."

"Really?" Jack gave a huff of laughter. That was definitely a lie. He didn't believe that for a second.

"I guess you leave me no choice then." Pitch's smile grew. Suddenly from Pitch's shadow, fearlings leapt out and pinned Jack to the ground. His staff just fell inches away from his reach. Pitch walked over to Jack and smirked. "We have many ways that will eventually make you beg to be our vessel. So I'll ask again, what will it be?"

"You're all monsters born from hate." Jack spat as he tried to get out of the fearlings grip.

"That's not an answer." Pitch replied. The fearlings pinned Jack harder to the ground. "So what will it be?" Pitch repeated.

Jack just gave Pitch his best glare and began, "My answer is…NOW!" The yell startled the fearlings pinning down Jack and Pitch. Suddenly a dreamsand whip was curled around Pitch's leg and he was pulled away from Jack.

Jack managed to get free from the fearlings as they tried to dodge an incoming boomerang. He quickly grabbed his staff and shot at the fearlings at an intense speed. To Jack's surprise, they actually remained frozen, but he could tell that they were thawing out. Jack looked up to see a large cloud of dreamsand generating light above the area.

When he turned around he noticed that Pitch was tied up by a dreamsand rope. North was pointing one of his swords at Pitch to make sure he couldn't move. The others had secretly gotten there earlier by Bunny's tunnels.

"You were right, Jack. They are weaker." Tooth observed.

"You were cutting the signal a bit close there, don't you think?" Bunny asked.

"I was fine." Jack shook his head. As he quickly ducked as North swung his sword at an incoming fearling. "They all will come swarming any second now. Ok Sandy, you ready?" Sandy nodded.

"Just by us as much time as you can." Jack said to both Sandy and the others. Tooth glanced at Pitch and then back to Jack.

"Goodluck." North said as himself, Tooth and Bunny backed away from Jack and Sandy.

"You too." Jack replied as Sandy then put up a dreamsand barrier around him and Jack, to try and keep out other fearlings. Sandy kept feeding dreamsand to the barrier to keep up its strength.

Fearlings came springing up from the shadows like crazy as soon as the barrier went up. They knew exactly what they were doing.

Jack turned to Pitch, who was glaring at him. "What now, Jackson?" Jack looked Pitch right in the eyes as he kneeled down in front of him.

"Kozmotis."

Pitch laughed, "You seriously think this will work?"

Jack kept the same stern expression, "Kozmotis, you need to fight them."

Pitch started laughing, but not before Jack saw a small flicker in his eyes, "Please. I know you're in that darkness. The man you were- No. The man you are is still in there. It's your body, you need to take control."

Pitch's face started twitching. Jack knew he was getting through, "You have to remember. You were a General and you fought against them, but then they started twisting things and they took over you. And because of that your daughter was left alone."

Pitch's face was no longer wicked, it was full of confusion. "My daughter?" Pitch asked. Sandy stared at them with wide eyes. Jack was actually getting through to him. Jack nodded at Kozmotis. Jack could tell from his eyes that this was Kozmotis and not Pitch.

"Seraphina, do you remember her?"

"….Yes." Kozmotis nodded. "She's my baby girl. It was just us after my wife….AGH-" Kozmotis scrunched his eyes in pain.

Jack knew what was going on, "No Kozmotis. Fight them!"

"T-T-They're t-too strong!" He stuttered as he tried to fight back for control over his own mind.

"Jack! We're running out of time! There's too many!" Jack heard Bunny's yell from outside the barrier.

It was now or never. "Sandy, get rid of the binds on Kozmotis." Sandy just glanced at the sand and it immediately dropped. Sandy was now struggling to keep up the barrier. Jack pulled out the locket. "Kozmotis look."

Kozmotis struggled to open his eyes. They widened at the sight of the locket. Jack placed it in Kozmotis' hand and he opened up the locket and music started to play. It was a musical locket. It played a slow and beautiful tune.

Kozmotis recognized it, he explained it aloud "I gave my daughter this locket to play at night when I wasn't home. Her mother made it before she passed away."

"You can see them again." Jack shut the locket, stopping the tune. Kozmotis looked up to Jack. "Just put on the locket." Jack instructed.

Kozmotis' hands began shaking as he was doing as Jack instructed, the fearlings were fighting for control, but Kozmotis held unto what strength he had left. He pushed for control and the next thing anyone knew; he had put the locket around his neck.

Tooth kept zooming around with her wings sharp, but even though she was very energetic, even the fairy queen was beginning to get run down. There were too many.

Bunny continuously kept dodging and throwing his boomerangs and egg bombs at them, his language got as colourful as his eggs against the fearlings.

North kept pushing forward, using his swords to slice what he could. "We keep pushing through! We can do it!" The yells of encouragement from North made them want to fight harder, but psychically they were beginning to slow down.

But suddenly the fearlings stopped in their tracks and started to make inhuman noises and they began shrinking.

"Sandy! Take down the barrier!" They all turned to the barrier as they heard Jack yell from within. The barrier was down almost instantly. And that's when they all saw it.

A cloud of darkness began to rapidly be shot out of Pitch from his mouth. It looked black smoke as it began to gather in the air.

The inhuman of the fearlings shrinking into nothing became louder. Jack was sprawled on the ground shielding his ears from the shrieking. He was the only one to hear what they were actually saying. 'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?' 'NO!' 'THIS IS NOT THE END!'

Pitch stopped spewing out smoke and everyone gasped as they now saw someone different. Pitch now had a pale peach coloured skin and his hair was more of a brown. And his eyes were no longer a terrible gold, they were a rusty hazel. This wasn't Pitch, not anymore. This was Kozmotis.

Sandy helped Jack stand back up by sitting him up and giving him his staff.

"Thank you." Kozmotis whispered like a ghost and just like that, he turned to dust that blew away with the wind. He was gone.

"Is that it?" North questioned as it was nothing but silence.

"It's over?" Tooth asked.

"Wait." Bunny's ears began twitching as he held up his boomerang in a defensive position. Everyone but Jack was then thrown back by an invisible force and the dark smoke flew at Jack.

Jack tried to shield himself, but engulfed him anyway.

Jack was standing in nothing but darkness. He bravely stood tall as golden eyes began to open all around him. Multiply voices began to speak as one, "You know what we want, boy."

Jack clenched his fist as a wave of anger washed over him. He couldn't let them win.

The voices laughed, "Yes. Give in to the dark, the anger and the fear that lurks within you."

"No."

The dark around Jack began to curl around him, grabbing hold of him, forcing him to slowly sink into as if they were trying to make him one with the shadows. Jack began to frantically struggle against the darkness that was binding him.

"Why struggle?" The voices were now whispering in his ear. "You'll get to see your family again."

The fearlings conjured an image of Jack's parents and sister, in front of him. Jack stared at the image. He was slipping into the fearlings trance. The fearlings grinned with their eyes, thinking that they had won, but as Jack stared at the image longer, the image suddenly changed to North, Tooth, Sandy and Bunny.

"NO!"

"But isn't that what you want?" The voices hissed.

"I would give anything to see my family again, but I also have another family that I won't abandon. And I won't let you get what you want!" Jack yelled as he stubbornly tried to fight back. The image of his family vanished as the fearlings voices roared,

"FOOLISH BOY! YOU LEAVE US NO CHOICE!" More of the binds grabbed unto Jack and began to drag him down into the dark.

Jack was pulled down into the dark, he felt like he was drowning in it. Jack shut his eyes. Was this how it was going to end?

Memories came flooding in his mind all at once. It was like a movie on an extreme fast forward. It was like his memories wanted to remind him. He was seen as a threat to the fearlings, but the question was why?

He was a child with more belief than half the children in his village. He brought belief to children in times of fear. He brought light through fun and belief.

'That's it!' Jack mentally exclaimed as his eyes snapped open.

What seemed like minutes was in reality just a few seconds.

"NO! Jack!" North yelled. The guardians automatically jumped back up and were about to run toward the black smoke, but strands of a bright light began to shine through the dark. The smoke was blasted back from a huge push of light.

When the smoke was blasted back, the fearlings returned to their normal forms.

The light died down to reveal the source of it was Jack, standing tall with his staff. For a split second the guardians didn't recognize Jack because he had brown hair and eyes, but his hair from the roots down became white again, and when Jack blinked they returned to their cerulean blue.

One fearling tried to attack Jack out of anger of rejection, but Sandy quickly used a dreamsand whip to hit it, and it turned into dreamsand. Manny was right. Light transformed them into normal fearlings.

"But how!?" Many fearlings hissed at Jack from a far.

"I wondered why you still wanted me to be filled with anger, but then I realized because it was the only way to take me as a vessel, even now. Because you knew that I still had that light and belief in me. And now you've lost everything."

Jack knew he could provoke them as much as he wanted and they wouldn't dare to attack him, especially when the other guardians walked over to Jack and stood by his side in an intimidating manner. Sandy conjured a dreamsand baseball bat and started tapping it in his hand.

"We will return! We will be stronger! And there will be no survivors!" They all roared.

"I look forward to it." Jack calmly stated. And with that, the fearlings shrunk back into shadows.

There was a moment of silence. "Ok, now it's over." Jack answered the question that Tooth asked just moments before.

Bunny quickly got them back to the workshop. They arrived in the globe room. As soon as they got there, Tooth slapped Jack on the arm.

Jack was completely caught off guard by this. "What was that for?" Jack asked as he rubbed his arm.

"Jack Frost! You scared us half to death! Don't you ever do that again!" Tooth scolded, she was in 'mama bear' mode.

"I'm sorry, but on the bright side I'm okay." Jack smiled. Tooth frowned and threw her arms around him, giving him a quick hug, but she did it as an excuse to whisper in his ear, "I did this so Bunny and North won't scold you for worrying us so much. North can be scarier than Bunny sometimes." Jack gave a bit of a chuckle as he heard that.

In the light of the workshop, Jack finally saw in the light how North, Bunny and Tooth looked. They looked like they all took a rough beating.

"So before, when you were glowing with light, you know that your hair and eyes turned brown for a second, right?" Bunny asked.

"Really!?" Jack asked, generally surprised. "Well I guess because I had so much belief from when I was alive it took form of how I used to be, even if it was just for a second."

The others just stared at him, "What?" North and Bunny asked in unison.

"I don't know." Jack replied. "Let's just say it happened."

North and Bunny nodded, that was a fair enough answer.

"So we won." Jack was still letting it sink in.

"Yeah, we did." Bunny replied. What seemed like an eternity of running around after the fearlings, was finally over.

Jack gave a stretch and said, "Well I think we can all agree that this has been a long few days. Let's just take a day off and not come to work tomorrow morning."

Epilogue

Everything seemed to go back to normal within a few days. Tooth and Sandy were back to work. They had a lot to catch up on. Bunny was preparing for Easter. North had little concern for his work. He was more worried about Jack.

Jack hadn't left the workshop since they defeated the fearlings. North had asked if he was okay. Jack reassured that he was and claimed that he wanted to spend a little more time to think. North didn't push.

After the whole idea, Jack had changed. It wasn't a bad changed, but he just knew more and in a way he seemed more mature, as a guardian and as the young man he would forever be.

North had gone to check on the yetis and came back to his workshop room to find Jack sitting near the window sill.

"Jack?"

Jack turned his head, "Hey." He then turned his head back to the window, it was snowing outside. "I always find it weird when snow is caused by nature rather than me."

North sat near Jack on the windowsill. "Then why don't you go out?"

Jack sighed. "I just can't stop thinking of this past year." Jack admitted to North.

North was glad Jack was actually talking to him out of his freewill. Jack continued, "I mean I find out I was chosen to be a guardian, I found out why, I became a guardian, I've regained all my memories now, I found out that my death wasn't caused naturally, and I have a new family."

Jack looked at North directly in the eyes as he listed everything before looking away.

"It's a lot to take in, and I kind of feel…." Jack trailed off.

"You can tell me, Jack." North encouraged.

"I feel lost."

"Lost?"

"It's like I don't even know who I am anymore. I'm no longer the goofy big brother, Jackson Overland, but I'm also not the lone winter spirit, Jack Frost either. Too much has changed. Now it's like I'm in between the two."

"Or perhaps you are both." North suggested. "Remember when I first brought you in here. I showed you how we all have layers. Jackson Overland and Jack Frost is you, Jack. Things may have changed, but you are still you, or rather both."

Jack smiled and nodded. North had a point. He was a mix of both know, but they had always been him.

"To add to my list to events for the past year would also be that I found out that I'm an uncle." Jack smirked.

North smiled, "So you believe they were telling the truth?"

"I would know if they were lying. And I remember a boy in my village named 'James Bennett', he wasn't much older than my sister. He had a massive crush on her. He would rant to just about anyone that one day he would marry her. Let's just say I gave him a bit of a stern talking to about that. He was scared of me for months, but he would still hang around my sister, if I wasn't around. I don't know if he did keep his promise or not but I think he did."

North gave Jack a pat on the shoulder. Jack smiled and leapt up.

"Where are you going?" North asked even though he already knew that answer

"I'm going to see my great-great-great-something niece and nephew. Just call me, Uncle Jack. Wait. Don't, that sounds too weird." Jack laughed at his own confusion. He grabbed his staff and flew off into the wind.

So much had changed, but all Jack knew was that he was happy, he was genuinely happy despite all the hardships, and if the fearlings were to ever return and disturb that, he would be ready. They all would be.

THE END

That's it, what did you think?

Thank you all so much for reading. Thank you all for the support and kind words. To everyone! I love you all! Merry Christmas!

Ok last few notes. On this chapter.

1.) I really wanted to add Jamie and Sophie being related to Jack. That is my number 1 headcanon. I was going to add it into a different story, but I was just like: "What the hell" And I threw it in there.

2.) At one stage I was actually going to write the ending where Jack is the new vessel and is trapped forever, but I thought since its Christmas soon, I would write a happy ending.

3.) I truly believe that Belief can be very powerful, and that everyone has it inside them, even if they've forgotten.

Hope you enjoyed. Until next time ;)