Jack had just dropped Sophie to her house and was about to leave when he heard a familiar voice, accompanied by laughter.

"~Jack~!"

"Tha- that voice, I know that voice"

Baby Tooth who had joined him, chittered nervously at Jack as he listened some more.

"~Jack~!" He flew off to a rounded air vent on a roof, then gasped as head her again. "~Jack~!" He dashed off through the air towards his lake. He landed on the ground as Baby Tooth kept squeaking. "Jack?"

He spied an old rotted bedpost with no mattress and started walking towards it, but Baby Tooth tried to hold him back. "Don't worry, ssh, there's still time" he told her, and she rolled her eyes.

Jack walked towards the bed, then knocked some pieces away with his staff to see into the hole below the bed.

"Jack?" the voice came from the hole.

He took a deep breath and then he leapt into the darkness. Once landed, Baby Tooth started to tug on his hoodie.

"Baby Tooth, Baby Tooth, come on! I have to find out what that is!" he said and flew into the open-air chasm, noticing all the cages. He flew to them and the other tooth fairies started chittering back. "Ssh, keep it down! 'M gonna get you out of here just as soon as—"

"Jack?" He looked down and noticed the piles of tooth boxes. "~Jack~!"

"--As I can" he continued and dropped down from the bird cages, despite Baby Tooth's flustered cries. He started digging through the piles of boxes, looking at the children's faces on the ends. Then his head jerked up.

"Looking for something?" Pitch asked as he stood too close to him.

Jack fired an ice blast at where Pitch was, then chased him through dark corridors.

Pitch laughed. "Don't be afraid, Jack?" he said as some light shone on the bridge he was standing, allowing the spirit to see him. "I'm not gonna' hurt you"

Jack slides onto an end of the bridge. "Afraid? I'm not afraid of you" he said.

"Maybe not. But you are afraid of something"

"You think so, huh?"

"I know so! It's the one thing I always know: people's greatest fears. Yours is that no one will ever believe in you. *His shadow overtakes Jack, who falls through the bridge and into another dark corridor* Hehehe..." Jack shouted as he landed hard on the cobblestone floor. He started scrambling to get out. "And worst of all, you're afraid you'll never know why - why you? *Jack bounds off into the dark, only to find another wall, so he turns to face him – frightened* Why were you chosen? To be like this. Well, fear not, for the answer to that... is right here. *he holds out Jack's tooth-box* Do you want them, Jack? Your memories?"

"Yes" Jack whispered and reached for the box, but Pitch pulled his hand back, and laughed as he vanished again, leaving Jack to dart off through the bird cages.

Pitch formed his body shape out of Jack's shadow. "Everything you wanted to know - in this little box. *He laughs some more as Jack chases him* Why did you end up like this? Unseen, unable to reach out to anyone - you want the answers so badly. You want to grab them and fly off with them, but you're afraid of what the Guardians will think. You're afraid of disappointing them. You are afraid of failing Thanatos...*Jack clutched his head* That's it...You want to help her, make her smile? *Pitch laughed* Oh how adorable, you seek to befriend her. Death herself " Pitch laughed more.

"Stop it, stop it!"

"After all, you're not one of them. You are a nothing to her" he said as he appeared from the shadows again and back Jack up against his dark Globe of Earth. "You are nothing to her"

"You don't know what I am!" Jack shouted back, anger rising inside him as he pointed his staff at Pitch. His words echoed in his mind, feeding at his fear. He tried to push the thoughts back, not wanting to allow him to win this battle.

"'Course I do!" Pitch said and smirked. "You're Jack Frost! You make a mess wherever you go - why you're doing it right now" he added and tossed the box into Jack's hands.

"What did you do?" he asked as he caught the box.

"More to the point Jack, what did you do?" He cackled as he backs off into the darkness again as Jack chased him.

=====================================

Thanatos was delivering the next soul, that of a hard-working man who got a heart attack while working to feed his family. He was the 4th life, being rare to work fast and having so much work in such little amount of time.

That worried her, something telling her that it was not right. Something was going on and her mind immediately went to the Guardians and Jack. She wanted to finish eh job faster, wanted to return to them but she had to go with the full procedure.

As she led the man and watched him turn into the famous sphere, a chill went down her spine. Instinctively, she brought her scythe up and just in time as a nightmare tackled her. It sent her flying in and they both merged with the shadows, but she was not in control.

One moment she was at the hospital somewhere in Greece and the other she was in the middle of a dead and burnt forest. With her back on the ground and the nightmare above, she stood still until the animal retreated.

Blinking she managed to lift her body on her knees when she sensed his presence.

"Interrupting my work now Pitch?" she asked and lifted her head, just as a figure materialize two feet away.

The black sand robe covered the individual from neck to toe, reaching the deadland beneath them.

"Technically, you were done Thanatos. You forget how well I know your job" Rolling her eyes, the girl stood up and pulled her hood down. "Oh, now we show face, huh? Wonder what caused that change *grins* or should I say who?"

In seconds the blade of her scythe met his, hers being kept inches away from her neck. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cut your head off," she said through greeted teeth, her anger rising.

She still held the grudge, the anger and resentment towards him. He had ruined her life, her job...everything.

"Why are you so angry with me?" he leaned closer, his voice calm. "Wasn't the Guardians who immediately cast you aside? Who was scared of you? Have you forgotten how they turned their back on you?!"

Her hands shook as her red eyes stared into his own golden ones. She looked to the side and closed her eyes, trying to keep him away from her mind. He was trying to bring back memories, memories she wanted to forget.

He focused on bringing the memories of the Guardians but there were also his. She tightened the grip on the scythe and with force, she pushed him back. He jumped and regained his balance, annoyed.

She pointed a skeletal finger at him while her red eyes glowed dangerously. "Things have changed Pitch! This is in the past"

He clicked his tongue between his teeth, leaving out a Tch sound of annoyance. That wasn't fully his plan but perhaps he could still take advantage of it. "Very well. Why don't you run back to your dear Guardians? Let's see how much things have changed"

With those words, he melted into shadows. She wasted no time to use her ability and appear in the Warren...only to find it empty.

"What?" she questioned and looked around, only to see no eggs and no Guardians.

Turning her head to the left, she watched as her loyal friends rushed to her. They seemed to be in shock and scared as they immediately cuddled around her cloaked feet. Before she could ask, she noticed something in Blue's beak.

Picking it up, she realized it was an eggshell piece. It was coloured and could only belong to Bunny's magical eggs. With dread and fear, she rushed towards the tunnels while they followed. Her sprinting came to a halt once she spotted smashed eggs.

"Oh no" her knees felt weak and she looked into each tunnel, seeing stomped and destroyed Easter eggs.

She looked at her loyal friends who hang their heads and she didn't need to ask them to know what happened and who was responsible for it. Without wasting any time, she summoned them back and used the scythe to open a portal to where the Guardians were.