welcome back readers! I know I have been on a long hiatus, but with some school breaks coming up I hope to finish this story by the end of next month. I have something special planned for my winter break, so stay tuned!

He landed with less grace then he was used too, scraping his knees against the hard ground instead of landing upright on his feet. With a grimace he pulled himself up with his staff, pushing his snow white hair out of his face so he could inspect his knees which were now bloodied. He was in worse shape than he thought.

Jack was only about halfway to his destination, the journey took more energy out of him then he thought it would, so he needed to stop and rest a bit. Rest, but not sleep. Sleep brought him nightmares, and they were intensifying. What started out as just a bad dream had slowly morphed over the long winter nights that had been Jack's doing. Every time he fell asleep, the nightmares seemed to grow stronger, and he had a growing sense that they were taking hold, and might not let go.

Jack tried to shake the thought from his mind. Thinking about his nightmares while awake wasn't helping anything; when the time came for sleep is when he would worry about facing his fears, no sooner. With a sigh he sat up against a large oak that sat in the middle of a clearing of the forest he had been flying over.

His original destination was North because at this time of the year he would probably be the least busy of all the Guardians. Now that he had actually started his journey, Jack didn't think he had it in him to fly all the way up to the Pole, especially if that meant dealing with the Northern Winds. So instead he started tossing around the idea of stopping over in Bunnymund's realm. After all, it was much closer than North's and Jack was having trouble staying awake as it was.

And as Jack sat under that magnificent oak, the forest grew silent around him. The winds picked up, swirling dead leaves around the base of the tree. However, Jack was too lost in thought and exhausted to notice the shift in tone of the woods surrounding him. The shadows of other trees around the clearing began to grow longer, as if the sun were setting. They stretched into the clearing, creeping up the oak that Jack rested his weary head against. And just as they began to crawl up the bark, Jack's eyes began to grow heavy and close as he drifted off to sleep.

If only Jack had taken a few steps deeper into the woods, he would have noticed a rotting bed frame that marked the entrance to a tunnel.

I feel am infamous for my short chapters, but at least I got something in. hope you enjoyed it! might have another chapter up tomorrow morning!

questions? comments? concerns? i wanna hear them! please leave a comment and let me know what you think