Five years have passed since the battle of Pitch and his nightmares and the children of the world continue to live happily without him and, more importantly, so do the Guardians. North, Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy were all able to jump right back into their jobs of filling the children's lives with wonder, hopes, and dreams and even had a little extra help from a mischievous winter spirit. Jack Frost, newly appointed Guardian of fun spread his touch of winter throughout the world with a new found purpose of making sure he would never go unseen and not believed in again. Things were peaceful once again and, while Jack was happy not to be fighting anyone or longing to be seen, he found himself getting increasingly lonely.

The first couple of years after Pitch's defeat, the Guardians would visit him two or three times a year and always left an open invitation to their realms, which Jack took advantage of. But, the more time had passed, the more the Guardians became focused on their work and the less they visited Jack. First was North always giving the excuse of being on the verge of discovering the next big toy, then Bunny complaining of so many eggs, so little time, Tooth found so much joy in joining her fairies in the field after they had been taken by the nightmares, that there was rarely a moment when she wasn't out collecting teeth, and Sandy just seemed to either be helping others sleep or sleeping himself.

When Jack noticed their decreasing visits, he attempted to go to their realms more often since it was easier for him to travel than the others. However, he always ended up wandering around alone because the Guardian was too preoccupied with their work. It got to a point where Jack began to feel that he was only getting in the way, so he just stopped visiting and hoped that eventually the Guardians would begin to visit him again.

It was on a frosty November day that Jack found himself back in Burgess delivering a dusting of snow for Jamie and his friends to be called out of school for a snow day. He was flying over the forest near his lake when he spotted them building snowmen and flew down onto a tree branch.

"Time for a little fun," he said sneakily as he scooped up some snow, blew across it for an extra icy touch, and threw it directly at the back of Jamie's head.

"Hey! Who threw that," Jamie giggled as he looked around accusingly at his friends who were all laughing and holding their hands up defensively.

"Well, it was the snowmen kiddo."

"Jack!" all the kids shouted when they looked up and saw the sprite crouching on a branch.

"Of course! Who else do you think brought all this snow," he said with a wink as he floated down to hug his admirers, saving Jamie for last.

"How ya been, kiddo?"

"Oh Jack, I've been waiting for you," Jamie said with a smile that warmed Jack's cold body.

"Waiting?" Jack laughed, "For what? A snow day?"

"No," Jamie quickly shoved the snow he had been hiding in his hands into Jack's face. "For that!" he shouted, laughing and ran away as did the others all exclaiming in excitement at Jamie's sneak attack.

"Ah! Hey! Oh you're gonna get it," Jack said with fake menace as he ran after the kids and began his relentless snowball attack that lasted for hours until the the sun began to set and Jamie and his friends, exhausted, said their goodbyes and headed home.

"Thank you for an amazing day, Jack. See you soon," Jamie said with one last hug to the sprite.

"Yeah, kiddo. See you real soon," he said reluctantly, watching Jamie exit into his house. Jack sighed and began walking into the forest until he reached his lake and sat down in the middle of it. No matter how much fun he seemed to have during the day, he always found himself loneliest at night. A sprinkle of golden sand fell in front of him and he looked up to the sky with a wistful smile to see strands of sand reaching across.

"Keep up the good work, Sandy," Jack whispered and the sand began to fade into the night sky until the only light left was that of the crescent moon. Jack eyed it sadly, wishing Manny would offer some sort of comfort.

"If you won't say anything, at least send me a sign. I know I'm believed in now and I'll never truly be alone, but...please just give me something to do. Someone to help, somewhere to go, just...anything," Jack pleaded and, as usual, the moon did nothing but glow back.

Jack sighed, "What's the point," and laid down onto the frozen lake, preparing to make himself comfortable for the night when out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadowy figure. He grabbed his staff and quickly prepared to defend himself when he saw that the shadow was not that of a person, but of a bed frame. It was the bed frame that marked the entrance to Pitch's lair but...he thought it had gone down with Pitch when he was taken by his own nightmares. Jack slowly crept up the the rotted frame, leaned in and saw that the entrance into the nightmare realm had somehow opened again. He jerked back and began to back away slowly thinking of what he should do.

I really should tell the Guardians the sprite thought to himself. What if Pitch is making another comeback? Whatever this is, it can't be good. Jack made up his mind with a determined nod and began to fly up to catch to winds to the North Pole. His ascent slowly began to decrease until it stopped completely. He looked down at the hole, torn between his sense of responsibility and his stubborn curiosity. The latter got the better of him and with a look of determination set of his face, flew back down to the frame, on the edge of the entrance. With one last, almost apologetic glance to the moon, he fell into the hole and was quickly surrounded by complete darkness.

He called upon the wind from his fall to slow his momentum until he felt his bare feet touch upon the strangely warm ground. He stood still for several minutes to let his eyes get adjusted to the dark and he saw a very dim glow coming from the end of the hallway he was standing in. Slowly, he made his way down, clutching his staff tightly, should anything or anyone try and sneak up on him. He finally reached the end and, peaking around the corner, found nothing but a very large and cavernous chamber that he recognized from the last time he was in the nightmare kingdom.

Dark, empty cages hung from the ceiling, multiple crumbling bridges stretched across the many levels of the chamber, beams of soft light came from high openings Jack couldn't see, and the large metal globe shone warmly with the lights of all the children who believed in the Guardians. Jack looked around and noticed, in a corner lit by one of the mysterious beams of light, a throne. Walking up to it, he saw it appeared to be made of very smooth black granite. He set his staff down on the side and sat upon the throne to find it surprisingly comfortable. He shifted himself deeper into the seat and couldn't help but smile at the sense of power that seemed to sweep through him.

"Comfy, Frost?" the smooth voice rang throughout the chamber and had Jack on his feet, staff in hand, and poised to attack.

"Show yourself, Pitch. You have some explaining to do," Jack shouted, looking in all directions, hoping to find a trace of the Nightmare King.

"Oh, do I?" Pitch slowly appeared out of a shadow in front of Jack. The winter spirit quickly lifted his staff and aimed it at the shadow man. Pitch raised his hands, but had a look of boredom on his face. "Really, now, is that necessary? If I had wanted to attack you, I would have done so already. You're the one who burst into my home, sat on my throne, and threatened me."

Jack made no move to lower his defense and Pitch sighed. "I promise you, Jack, I mean you, nor any of the Guardians any harm. Now, if you lower your weapon, perhaps we can have a civil conversation?"

Jack stared into the darker man's eyes, searching for some kind of hint of betrayal, but saw that he was being genuine and reluctantly lowered his staff.

"There now, was that so hard?" Pitch smirked. "Well then, even though you have been an unspeakably rude guest, I shan't neglect my duties as a proper host. If you'll follow me," Pitch said with a slight bow and began to walk towards one of the many hallways. Jack just stood there gaping for a moment trying to comprehend what had just happened.

Was...was that Pitch? I mean it looked like him, but I've never seen Pitch act so...so...civil. Could he have changed that much? He's so nice now, and kind, and courteous, and gentlemanly, and handsome, and...wait did I just say-

"Coming, Jack? These halls are quite difficult to navigate on one's own," Pitch said, snapping Jack out of his inward conversation.

"Yeah, c-coming," Jack managed to say as he jogged to catch up to the Nightmare King and follow him down the dark passage.

So...what do you think!? Reviews are wonderful, but please be gentle, I'm new x) I'll try and update at least once a week if this goes over positively.