"Alright then. What do you want it to be near?"

"Maybe next door to your room? This place seems so sad and empty, it'd be creepy being all alone."

"Okay. Lets go back. I'll show you how to travel in the shadows later, it's fastest right now." I grabbed his hand and fell over backwards, disappearing into my element before falling out into my room. I opened to door and waited for Jack to exit before closing my laptop and saving my work. Then I went out into the corridor. "Left or right side?"

"Right."

I nodded. "What color door do you want?"

He thought for a moment, his hair falling into his eyes. It was quite adorable. "Ice blue," he said finally. "Like this." He tapped the door with his staff and glittering frost started coating the door.

"I think that can be arranged." Upon closer examination, his frost was a shiny dark silver color instead of white, but I decided not to point it out. It could make him freak out, just like when I had allowed him to keep his appearance during his changing. If he had noticed his hair turn dark gray and his eyes turn red, it would have been way harder for him. The marking was much easier, even if it hurt more. I placed my palm flat on the door, fingers splayed, and closed my eyes. The frost darkened under my hand, as shadows covered the door and I commanded them to turn it ice blue. They didn't really like bright colors, but I twisted them, bent them to my will, and they folded, turning it ice blue. I opened my eyes and leaned against the wall, my knees buckling slightly. "Lets get you moved in." I opened the door to reveal a room similar to mine, but with a regular full bed instead of a daybed, and everything was black and gray, and way more masculine. "Just tell me what you want it to look like, or you could visualize it and I could recreate it from your mind. It's up to you."

He went over and tapped a wall, instantly covering it with ice. "Just a lot of blue, white, snow and ice colors, maybe a little black and gray, that's about it. I could do the rest personally."

"Then let me explain a few things about the room. The dresser over there-" I pointed to a low dresser with a flat top, "-will fill with any, ahem, special clothing items you need. I don't really think I need to explain, it could get awkward. Also shoes are in the bottom of the closet on a rotating conveyor belt. Belts are hanging from a high rack in the closet. I think that's it, you get the gist of the closet from before. Oh, do you want a laptop or computer? I have the wireless router in my room for the wifi. Do you want a phone or tablet or anything? Just ask, the shadows can do anything you want. I'll teach you how to control them tomorrow morning. We go out at night to do out jobs and I sleep during the brightest hours of the day. Early morning and early evening is when I do all of my personal stuff, like draw, write, blog, read, whatever. I'll show you how to manipulate shadows or whatever it is you will now be able to do then. I'll be in my room if you need me!"

I blended into the shadows and leaned on the wall when I reemerged in my room. I told the shadows to make Jack's room exactly the way he wanted it, and to leave a gift basket full of chocolate and sweets, plus a box that would fill with whatever you wanted. Also another box, like one you would receive on Christmas, all wrapped up with a bow and everything, that had an iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Air. I know, a ton of Apple products, but these were all better versions of the ones in the regular market. They were so much better, and all of the apps still worked. They were several generations ahead of the one sold to the general population. Plus, I got them for free. I attached a note to each. The gift basket said I hope you are adjusting well, I feel like I work in a hotel XD That rhymed, the second one, the empty box (that came with instructions) had Actually read the instructions to use this, and the box of electronics had a small holiday card that said:

Dear Jack,

I hope you can get used to this soon, it can be overwhelming. We will work on powers and skills tomorrow. Since we don't celebrate holidays here, especially not Christmas and Easter, I decided to give you this room-warming gift, so consider these your Christmas presents for as long as we're still all together in the lair, as friends and family. I really hope you feel welcomed, my dad is not the most friendly or expressive but he really does care and have a heart.

I feel so ridiculous and stupid writing like this XD,

Your new friend,

Midnight

I collapsed face first on my bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, with my Favorites playlist blasting from my headphones.

========Time Skip========

I was being shaken awake. "Wha?" I asked, my eyes blinking blearily. "Who's there? It's like," the red light of my digital clock cut through the fog and I squinted at it. "-1:00pm." I yawned massively and rubbed my eyes with both hands. A blurry white and gray figure came into focus. It was Jack, with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. I pushed myself up into a sitting position from my face plant on my bed, and the blanket of shadows that covered me fell away. "Yeah Jack? What is it?"

He looked a little embarrassed. "Well, I didn't exactly get dreamless sleep, I got a nightmare. I didn't really know what to do, since I can't distract myself from it by doing my job like I usually do."

I groaned a little, then stood. Music was still playing from my headphones, and I paused it and put my phone on the charger. "I guess you can sleep in here. You want to sleep in the regular bed or the pullout? Cause you'll have to pull it out yourself, I'm exhausted. Actually, I should get into pajamas. Feel free to explore, just not my personal stuff, my electronics like my laptop, and that dresser over there. Do not go in it, it's the same as the one in your room." I went over to my closet and sleepily said, "Closet, pajamas." I chose flannel pants and an oversized Harry Potter t-shirt. I went to the dresser and grabbed some unmentionables before going into the bathroom and changing. When I came back out, Jack was sitting on the floor. "What are you doing?"

"I was going to sleep on the floor-"

"No you're not. Either sleep on the pullout-trundle-thingy or in my bed with me. Only options."

"Pullout."

"That's what I thought. Help me with this." I reached down and grabbed the handle and Jack copied me, and we heaved. It slid out, and I made sure there was a sheet on it before climbing into bed. He got onto the pullout and I threw one of my numerous pillows at him. "Here. Wake me up if you have any more nightmares, or just climb in with me. I won't mind, and the Nightmares know better than to give me bad dreams. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

And I fell asleep again.

========Time Skip========

I wasn't woken up until a song started playing from my alarm clock, one that got steadily louder until I noticed it. I reached over and slapped the snooze button, then found the off switch. I opened my eyes and looked around. Jack was gone, and the place he had been was covered in frost. There was a tiny bit of frost on my bed too, but only a little, probably from leaning on it as he got up or something. I heard slight scuffling and cursing from next door, I guessed Jack with his shoes again. I stood and stretched for a minute, yawning slightly. I checked the time. 5:00pm. About two hours before sunset. I grinned mischievously. Perfect. I went over to my closet and grabbed a tank that said, "Am I a troubled kid? Yeah, you could say that." Another one of my favorite quotes from a book. It was a black thick-strap tank with bold teal lettering. I picked out a leather jacket with studs on it and some fishnet tights. I grabbed a throwing knife from my desk and slashed them up, leaving holes in them, and I pulled blood red high-waisted shorts on over them. Then I wore the same boots as yesterday, and similar jewelry. I stood in front of my vanity and started on my makeup. Thick, black eyeliner, dark eyeshadow, and, to go with my outfit and hair, blood red mascara. It was quite striking, if I do say so myself. I smudged black eyeshadow under my eyes so the red popped, same with my eyelids. It looked really cool. I decided to go with clear lipgloss for a change. I walked over to Jacks room and banged on the door. "JACK, IT'S TIME FOR TRAINING!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I heard more stumbling and them the door opened.

"Yeah?"

"Get into clothes you can train in. We start as soon as you're ready to go."

"But what about you?"

"What? I can fight like this. One time, I had to fight this massive dude in this tiny cocktail dress and 8-inch heels, my hair was curled, -man, that was one crazy bat mitzvah- but that's besides the point. I'm not hampered by silly things like my outfit anymore. You, on the other hand, well, I guess the clothes you came in would be fine. It's just training. Eventually you'll go on missions or do your new job or whatever. You could just hang around. But get changed, then breakfast, then training. Got it?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sure. Where's breakfast?"

"Oh, well, I usually just eat in my room, but there is a dining room. We just never use it, ever since-" I stopped myself. "We just don't use it anymore. Now get a move on. I'm not the most patient person in the world. I'll be in my room when you're done. The door should be open, if not, don't come in." I left him in the doorway and sat in my desk chair. I opened my laptop and waited for it to turn on. Once the startup screen popped up, a picture of my little gray kitten that like staying in the shadows, Whisper, the kitten, climbed up into my lap and laid there lazily. She stayed a kitten forever, immortal like me. I unlocked my screen and opened up my saved Word document. It was a novel I was currently writing under a pseudonym (No, I won't tell you. That would defeat the purpose of writing under a pseudonym. Why not just put my own name on the cover then?) I was so absorbed in it, I felt Jack's hand on my shoulder about a minute after he put it there, and jumped suddenly as a late reaction. "Oh, sorry, I didn't even realize you were there. Here." I reached into a drawer of my desk and asked, "Do you want a bagel?"

Jack seemed confused by the irrelevant question, but answered, "Sure, I guess. Why?"

"This is why." I pulled my hand out and passed him a bagel before diving in again, and my arm went in up to the shoulder before I pulled out another bagel. "Cream cheese?"

He shook his head.

"Okay then. I'll take you to an empty room for training. At least, it used to be empty before I converted it." I started nibbling absentmindedly on the bagel. "Now there's dummies that Father has insisted on dressing up like the Guardians, which I find ridiculous, plain dummies that I use most of the time, Nightmare horses that act like Sandy's sand so you can practice converting them, a huge variety of weapons, a situation simulator so you can be placed in tough situations, punching bags, general workout equipment, that's about it. Not half-bad for a homemade training arena. Plus mats for gymnastics. Wanna check it out?"

He swallowed the last of his bagel. "Why not? Lets go."

I tossed my unfinished bagel on my desk and walked out. I turned a few times, then entered the training room, which had a pink door. Very unsuspecting, if anyone were to infiltrate. The first thing I saw was the new Jack Frost dummy Father had made once he learned Jack was a Guardian. I froze, then put a hand on Jack's chest and pushed him out of the room before closing the door. "Just something I have to do first!" I called. "I'll let you in in a minute!"

I ripped the outfit and staff away from the dummy and tossed them in a cold and empty fireplace in the corner. I ordered the shadows to absorb them, yet manage to look like black fire. I hid the Sandy dummy in a closet. Once that was taken care of, I let him back in. "All done. What do you want to do first?"

He looked over at the bench press. "Strength?"

I thought for a minute. "Okay. Strength first. Then weaponry and practice on the dummies, powers and control, hand-to-hand combat techniques on the dummies, maybe hand-to-hand with me, possibly weapons practice on me if you're really good, and powers with me tomorrow."

"You're that good?" He looked a little skeptical.

"Yes, I am that good. Plus, almost no one's seen me for my entire 200 years or so of existence, and I'm visible to everyone. I'm pretty stealthily, and pretty good at my job. Without me, nighttime goes kaput. I train every day, for at least 4 hours straight, then go do my job. So yes, I am good. Want to see how much you can bench press compared to me? Or how many backflips you can do in a row?"

"Bench press: yes. Backflips: no."

"Okay. Start out small, then work your way up to your maximum weight. I start off pretty heavy."

He got up to 214 pounds before he couldn't do any more.

"That's pretty good for a first try. Let me have a whack." I left his weight the way it was and laid down. I lifted it no sweat, three or so times, then added about 50lbs. Easy. Once I got to around 458, it started to get challenging. I only started sweating around 632, and I actually got a new maximum, I pushed it to 783. "That was more weight than I usually press, but you get the idea. Still anxious to fight me?"

"Nuh-uh," He said quickly, shaking his head. Like, Anything to keep this girl from beating me up. It was kind of amusing.

"Then lets go to work. Strength is done for now. Weaponry and practice on the dummies. Guardians or regular?"

"Don't care."

"Then it'll be a mix. We'll see who you have the hardest time hitting."

I set up a line of dummies, hiding them in shadows until the one before it was destroyed. I gave Jack swords and he slashed the regular ones to pieces. Then the North one came up. Jack hesitated for a second, then his eyes hardened and he leapt at the dummy with renewed fury, letting out a eardrum-shatteringly loud war cry. It was deep, and of pain and hurt and betrayal. When he backed away, it was a pile of fabric and straw and stuffing. I was a little startled. "Note to self, don't get on Jack's bad side," I said, loud and clear. He shot me a lopsided apologetic grin, and I grinned back. The I unveiled the next dummy. Normal, hacked to pieces. I had the shadows absorb the remains of the dummies. There were a few more normal ones, then the Easter Bunny came up. He was disemboweled in minutes, no hesitation. "Note to self, do not do to Jack what Bunny did." Another regular, then Tooth. Jack went to slash her head off, but he stopped halfway. He tried to stab her through the heart, but he deflated.

"Okay, there's clearly a problem here. Why can't you hurt her? Her specifically." I sat down on the floor and looked up at him expectantly. I patted the floor next to me. He still didn't move. I patted the floor again and he sat down. "Okay, you're having issues here. I get that, there was always a dummy I couldn't hurt either." I didn't tell him it was his dummy. "But something is going on. You can tell me. We're friends, right? And friends tell each other things. I've never had a friend before, so I'm basing this off of books I've read, but come on, you can tell me. I promise, I won't look at you any differently. Pinkie promise." I held out my pinkie and he looped his through mine. "'Kay. Now tell me."

"I can't hurt her because- well, because-"

"Because you like her?"

"Well, she was the only one who looked truly surprised and hurt when they thought I had destroyed Easter."

"Eh, Bunny did need to be taken down a notch. His ego was always overinflated, just like his head. But you do like her, don't you? I can tell."

He put his face in his hands. "I just don't know. I knew them for about two days, now they hate me."

"Jack, you know in battle, you won't actually be chopping their heads off and stabbing them through the heart. It was just preparing you to have to harm them, and getting a little anger and frustration out on the side. If you want, I'll deal with Tooth when we actually fight."

"Thanks, Midnight."

"No problem, buddy. No problem. That's what friends are for." I looked at my watch and noticed how late it was. "Dammit, I have to go do my job now, we ran short on time, we can always work on the rest later. Maybe you can figure out some new abilities. Do you want to come with?" I stood and extended a hand to help him up. He took it and I was nearly pulled off my feet. "Lets roll." I took his hand and shadows engulfed us, taking us to Burgess, the hardest place in the world to darken.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know it's been a while I just got writers block on my other stories and I started new ones and there's school in two days so no dependable/reliable updates until October.

Thanks for reading this, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Toodles my noodles!

~iamanawesometaco