Trust is Earned, but Easily Broken Chapter 1: Memories, a rise of the guardians fanfic

"Where's Baby Tooth?" Tooth asked as a look of horror formed on her face, "Oh Jack, what have you done?" They all looked at the tooth box in his hand.

"That is why you weren't here?" North moved forward to confront him, "You were with Pitch?"

"No, listen, listen...I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen." Jack said, moving to defend himself.

"He has to go."Bunny said to the other Guardians as Jack looks at him.

"What?" He choked.

"We should never have trusted you! Easter is new beginnings, new life. Easter is about hope. And now it's gone." Bunny says as he turns away from them.

"I knew we should have never trusted him!" Bunny growled, moving to grab a boomerang. Jack shook his head and started to defend himself again, but caught sight of North shaking his head in disappointment. It was then that Jack's fears were realized. His hope was crushed, his dream was destroyed, and he no longer cared to wonder about things.

His hand clenched around the container in his hand and he looked at the others through white bangs. "I knew it was to good to be true..." He whispered and chucked the container at their feet.

North looked at the boy in shock as the container hit the ground near his boot. He felt his center ping a little, signaling someone had stopped believing and as he looked at the winter spirit he knew in his belly who it was.

Bunny looked at the ground confused, what was Frostbite doing. Didn't he go to Pitch for those? Bunny was shocked when another, even brighter light went out as the child lost all hope. His green eyes met a pair of dead blue ones, ones that used to be bright with mirth. He was shocked that so much hope was lost all at once from a single person.

Tooth gasped as the container rolled on the ground and faced Jack, who had changed so much in those few seconds. He was paler than before, going from a healthy pale to a dead looking pale. The usual amusement that showed in his eyes had vanished leaving a pair of dark blue eyes where there was once bright childlike ones. His hair seemed to be made of ice as it clacked together in the sight breeze. And the smirk that twisted onto his face was completely different from the playful one he usually wore.

Jack's next few words proved to the Guardians that they had lost him, "Have fun fighting Pitch without my help. What good would a spirit who's not even believed in be? Oh, and just so you know, those memories at your feet... they're the only reason i even found Pitch's lair."

Tooth gasped when she remembered what the memory boxes did when their producer got near, "...they called out to you... oh my God, Jack..."

Jack scowled and cut her off, "Oh now you want to listen to my side. Well to late. I've already lost any hope i had for this working out and not being alone for the rest of my life. And by the way, you also just made my one true fear come true...rejection."

Bunny felt shocked as Jack stated that, but how should he have known that Frostbite was like that. He picked up the tooth box and tossed it to Jack. "I don't think you'll trust us but, take a look at yer memories before casting the di, mate." He said and Jack sneered at him,

"You're lucky I'm still a kid at heart or I would have probably left already. But since you asked so nicely, I suppose I could, when I get somewhere I'm alone." And with that a swirl of frost and wind made Jack seemingly disappear.

Bunny looked at the others and groaned, "We screwed that up."

A moonbeam shined down on them and North frowned, "What do you mean Manny? Jack was meant to be Guardian from the beginning?" The beam flashed angrily and North's eyes widened, "He'll come around right?" When the beam dimmed North frowned again, "Then we will pray that Pitch does not talk him into joining him."

The beam disappeared and North turned to the others, "Man-in-Moon says Jack is at a crossroads now. He can turn either way, but he is out of Manny's reach. But now we must fight to protect ourselves and the children. Come everybody to the pole to see who's left." They left quickly after that.

Jack was furious as he sat in the middle of the raging blizzard, "Why did I even bother. no one believes in me anyway, so who cares." He muttered through gritted teeth as his hands clinched around his staff. A dark thought formed in his mind, 'No one, that's why they threw you out.' Jack growled and spun his staff, causing the wind to sweep beside him. He stood up and glared at the box in his hand, moving to toss it into the ocean but pausing before doing so.

"I thought this might happen," Pitch said from behind the raging winter spirit. The Nightmare King moved to be right behind Jack, "They never really believed in you. I was just trying to show you that. But I understand." The only warning Pitch had was a scoff before a burst of frost charged at him.

"You don't understand anything!" Jack growled, his blue eyes iced over in rage. He continued to lash out at the dark spirit, but Pitch blocks and weaves around the attacks.

"No? I don't know what it like to be cast out?" He shouted before he attacked Jack, forcing the white-haired teen to defend. Jack leapt in the air and their fight escalated until they were both shrouded in snow, ice and wind. The area cleared and Jack looked around with an alert look.

"To not be believed in. To long for a family." Jack spun to face Pitch, but his faced softened unwillingly. "All those years in the shadows I thought, no one else knows what this feels like. But now I see I was wrong." Pitch finished gesturing to Jack. Gold met blue and a moment of understanding passed between them. "We don't have to be alone, Jack." Pitch said, offering his hand. "I believe in you. And I know children will too."

"In me?" Jack breathed, his thoughts spinning out of control.

"Yes! Just look at what we can do!" Pitch said, gesturing to the sculpture of ice and nightmares their battle had formed, "What goes together better than cold and dark?" He said as Jack looked at the sculpture, their images reflected in it. "We can make them believe. We'll give them a world where everything, everything is..."

Jack looked back at Pitch and frowned, deadpanning, "Pitch black?"

Pitch paused, irritation flashing in his eyes as he clarified, "And Jack Frost too. They'll believe in both of us."

Jack stared at him, eyes dead as he remembered what the other Guardians had said before they cast him out, they had turned on him without his own side, but, "No, they'll fear both of us. And that's not what I want." Jack said before he turned to walk away.

Pitch looked confused and hurt. This was not the response he was expecting. Then...his eyes flamed with anger. He had made himself vulnerable, and Jack rejected him. No more negotiating then. "Very well. You want to be left alone? Done. But first..." Suddenly Jack heard a familiar twitter and turned to see Pitch reach into his coat to pull out,

"Baby Tooth!" Jack exclaimed.

Jack charged forward, enraged by the terror in Baby Tooth's eyes. She squeaked as Pitch clenched her tight with his fist. "The staff, Jack." Jack settled and the winds and snow subsided as Pitch looked at him. "You have a bad habit of interfering. Now hand it over." Pitch said, looking at the little fairy, "And I'll let her go." Baby Tooth seemed to twitter a desperate 'No!' and struggled to get loose, but Pitch only tightened his grip to where she could barely breathe, giving Jack no choice.

Jack closed his ice blue eyes and sighed in frustration, sticking his staff out for Pitch to take. As soon as Pitch does, he twirls it in his hands and looks down at the teen spirit who was glaring at him, "Alright, now let her go." Jack said, sticking out a hand.

Pitch smirked, "No. You said you wanted to be alone. So be alone!" He laughed at Jack's stricken face and Baby Tooth squirmed in Pitch's grip until she was able to stab his hand with her beak. The dark spirit shouted and threw her in the air and she fell into the mouth of a crevasse.

"No!" Jack yelled as he turned to Pitch and watched in shock as Pitch lifted his staff and broke it over his knee. Pain entered his chest as blue light exploded from the staff and terror filled Jack as he clutched his chest in pain. Suddenly Pitch sent a burst of Nightmare sand and blasted Jack into the iceberg behind him. A crack was heard as the ice at his back cracked and Jack fell forward and collapsed into the chasm below.

Pitch looked into the ice fissure with a chuckle and threw the broken pieces of the staff down after the broken spirit and walked away, disappearing into a shadow.

The chasm was cold and dark making Jack feel even more alone than he'd ever been before. Broken from the fall he looked up and noticed with a shock that Baby Tooth was lying lifelessly on the ground. "Baby Tooth!" He called as he forced himself to crawl over to her and cradled her in his hands. "Are you alright?" He asked, looking her over.

She nodded even though she was hurt, and cold. After he saw this Jack did his best to shield her from the cold, but stops and chuckles, "Sorry, all I can do is keep you cold." He stated, lowering his hands a little in despair, "Pitch was right- I make a mess of everything." He said devastated as a lone tear traveled down his face before freezing and falling off.

Baby Tooth looked at the winter spirit in shock, she had never seen this side of Jack before. A thought entered her mind and her expression hardened with determination and she wriggles deep into his pocket.

"Hey?" Jack questioned. He then leaned back and began to close his eyes when a voice shocks him out of it.

"Jack... Jack" The voice echoed and as he looked down at the soft glow coming from his pocket he felt something stir in his heart. He jumped back and reached in to pull out the tooth box that was pulsating with light. "Jack.." This time he realized it was coming from the box. He looked down at Baby Tooth, who nodded and gave him a reassuring look, motioning to the box and then back at Jack.

He reached out and touched the box, eyes widening as the top unfolded and revealed a handful of baby teeth. Then the world disappeared in a burst of intense bright light.

Memories flashed through his head as he fell through his memories. The colonial settlement he had arrived in when he first became a spirit, children running down a hill laughing, a woman smiling at him while saying ,

"Come on Jack, you can't have fun all the time", the laughing faces of children as a boy hangs upside down from a tree limb as a girl who looked familiar yelled up at him "Jack, get down from there!"

A family in front of a roaring fire as the same boy jokes around with antlers on his head, "You're funny, Jack." Jack walked toward the woods with his sister. His mother called out to him, "Be careful." He shook his head like he heard that every day but didn't pay it any mind. He laughed and called back, "We will!"

And then...

It was Jack, but instead of white hair and blue eyes he had brown hair and eyes. His eyes were narrowed in fear with a little of concentration as well as he looked at his sister calmly, "It's okay. It's okay. Don't look down, just look at me." He said as he pulled the second ice skate off his foot and set it down, leaving him barefoot on the ice.

His sisters stood across from him on her skates, fear etched on her face and rooted to the spot as a spider's web of cracks grew from where she stood.

"Jack, I'm scared." She said, her voice shaking as the ice splintered more and she wobbled as it started to separate.

"I know, I know... but you're gonna be alright. You're not gonna fall in. We're gonna have a little fun instead." Jack said, trying to focus his sister's attention elsewhere.

"No we're not!" She said to him and he smiled.

"Would I trick you?" He asked, forcing down his fear.

"Yes! You always play tricks!" She exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes.

Jack chuckled, "Well, alright. Well, not, not this time. I promise. I promise, you're gonna be...you're gonna be fine. " He said, fixing his gaze on her and holding it. "You have to believe in me." She paused and smiled through her fear. And just like that his demeanor changed. As if a light is flipped inside and the last thing he thought would happen happened.

"You wanna play a game? We're going to play Hopscotch! Like we play every day!" He said, grinning widely and his sister looked more reassured, "It's as easy as...one...whoaaaa..." He leapt but stumbled on purpose to make her laugh, "Two," He jumped again, "Three!" He spun and looked toward her with arms spread out. "Alright."

He reached down and picked up his staff and extended it toward her, "Now it's your turn." She looked down to gather her courage and Jack never broke his gaze away. "One," He started softly and she wobbled and caught her balance. "That's it, that's it...two..." His staff was just beyond her reach, "Three." She grabbed Jack's staff and in a massive effort he slung her to safety.

But, the movement propels him into the cracked ice. He looked up to see his sister safe and smiled. Then the ice cracked completely and he collapsed into the dark water. The last thing he heard was his sister yelling his name.