Jack Frost was riding the wind, trying new tricks. He ran into a tree and laughed at how careless and carefree he felt. He decided to fly back to Burgess, and he caught sight of a snowball war.

"Hey, three against one is not fair!"

Jack looked down at the girl who yelled. He smirked when he saw children having a snowball fight. He landed behind a tree near them.

He raised a brow. "Forts? Don't tell me there's rules to this." He shook his head, smirking. He grabbed some snow and blew on it, forming the perfect snowball. He eyed the kids closest to him. He threw the snow at a small, brown haired boy who laughed as he sat up from the hit. Jack laughed as he threw three snowballs at the other children and missed only once. A snowball hit Jack, and he cringed at the thought of being hit. He laughed as he tried to find who bested him ast his own game.

"I got you! I got you!" A blond girl jumped and pointed at Jack. "And you're not supposed to ever get hit. Look, Alex! I got him!"

A lanky black haired boy laughed. "You did!" He threw a snowball, but it missed Jack.

Jack laughed. "You're right. I'm not supposed to get hit."

A few of the children faced the girl with quizzical looks. Two of the others laughed and threw their snowballs at Jack, one missing him. He laughed, but then realized some of the children were looking at him, but not truly.

A child raised a brow. "Who are you guys throwing at? There's no one there."

"Yeah. You're wasting time and ammo."

"Oops." Jack smirked. "Even after all this time, I guess not everyone believes." He winked at the children who could see him, noticing the northern lights shimmering in the distance. He paused and rolled his eyes at the thought of work. "I gotta go." He flew into the air. "I'll play with you guys again soon."

The wind rapidly took Jack to the pole, landing in front of one of the doors. He knocked, and a familiar yeti quickly opened. He glared at Jack.

Jack smiled. "Hey Phil, you have to let me in. I'm a guardian now. You don't have to throw me out anymore."

Phil closed the door.

Jack's mouth was agape. Jack could hear Phil laughing, and he lightly laughed with the yeti. "Okay Phil. The joke's over."

He heard Phil laugh louder. Jack paused and realized Phil really wasn't going to let him in. He narrowed his eyes and flew into the tunnel that North used for taking the sleigh out. The yetis tilted their heads as Jack stomped through the ice room to the door and entered the workshop. Jack glared around, looking for Phil as he walked to the main room.

North smiled. "I didn't send any yetis for you this time. I told you things would change once you became a guardian."

Jack frowned. "So much for change. I think you should replace Phil. He doesn't think I'm a guardian."

"Oh, Jack," Toothiana flew in laughing lightly. "Phil's one of the smartest and sweetest yetis I know. I'm pretty sure you don't understand his humor. It's just you."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Then I guess it is just me."

Bunnymund hopped into the room. "What is it this time?" Sandy flew in beside him.

North grinned to himself. "Time himself."

Jack's brows furrowed, and an old man with a dark blue cloak stepped into the room with the guardians.

The old man smiled at everyone. "Hello, dear guardians."

"Hi?" Jack moved his head slightly.

North smiled. "Everyone, this is Raynerof Time. He is the reason I called you all here."

Raynerof slowly shook his head, raising a hand slightly. "More precisely fear. Its embodiment to be quite clear."

Bunnymund raised a brow. "You mean Pitch?"

Raynerof nodded.

Jack furrowed his brows with a smirk. "Excuse me, Raynerof, who are you exactly?"

Raynerof smiled. He hit the base of his scythe to the ground and transformed himself into a black-haired teenager. "My true name is Raynerof Time. Jackson Overland Frost, you know me best as Father Time."

Jack's eyes widened. "Oh!!" He grinned, lightly laughing to himself. "Okay. This makes a little more sense now." He paused. I think I remember seeing him...

Raynerof smiled then frowned. "I carry grave news." He looked to Sandy. "I believe this involves your work too."

Sandy paused, but seemed to know what he was talking about. He gently nodded.

Raynerof looked at all the guardians. "Not all is as well as it seems. Pitch had not created many screams, for there was a plan behind the scenes. He took Cupid and entrapped her in darkness after she gave him blood that fulfilled a promise."

Blood? Mermaid's blood? Bunnymund wondered to himself.

Jack's brows furrowed. "Do you mean the mermaid's blood?" Bunnymund quickly looked at Jack. It was quite strange that Jack didn't mention that to Bunnymund at all before.

"Yes." Raynerof nodded and looked to Sandy. "However, the Nightmare King was in love, and he created something beyond what is usually offered by a dove."

Toothiana's eyes narrowed. "You mean...?"

North's eyes widened. "A child."

Sandy nodded.

"But how?" Bunnymund stepped forward with narrow eyes. "No one would love Pitch. He has no soul."

Jack's mouth was agape, recalling what he had seen many years before. There was one girl...

Raynerof stepped forward. "It seemed unreal at first, but then ideas and hopes from the child''s heart began to burst. As the gold sand tried to touch the child's heart, the sand became blue and froze with a quick start. It was as if the sand was becoming a frozen dream and could not give the child a golden dreaming scene. The last few moments of sunset is the only light that child has gotten. I only know because the child's sense of time is rotten."

 Jack looked to the floor with narrow eyes. "So they need light." He looked to Raynerof. "Where are they?"

Raynerof shrugged. "That is why I came here, hoping the man in the moon would lend me an ear."

As if on cue, the moon beamed into the room. He used his light to tell the guardians their new orders. Using his light in the center of the room, he created a shadow of a box.

Bunnymund's eyes widened. He whispered, "The earth's core."

Jack looked to Bunnymund with furrowed brows. "The earth's core? How do you know? It's just a box."

North took a step back from the beam of moonlight. "That box represents the box of darkness that Nightlight was trapped in centuries ago. The box was in the earth's core." His brows crashed. "I didn't think Pitch would go back there." He looked up at the moon. "What should we do?"

The man in the moon formed of a shadow of Pitch on one side of the light reaching out for a child that was on the other side.

Jack's brows furrowed. "Doesn't that seem a bit cruel?"

Toothiana nodded with narrow eyes and looked to North. "It is his child after all."

North looked worried. "We... but we are supposed to protect every child, good or bad... naughty or nice."

Bunnymund crossed his arms. "How are we supposed to protect this child from their own father?"

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

Jack looked out of the window's workshop, with his arms wrapped around his knees. He shook his head, sighing. Taking a child from their parents wasn't exactly easy. There was also something about this whole idea that didn't seem right.

"They say a stressed boy can't live forever." Raynerof stepped toward Jack, laughing. "But who are they anyway?"

Jack smirked, and sat up straight. He looked down at the floor, keeping Raynerof in the corner of his sight.

Raynerof sat in front of Jack, his black hair tipping over his grey eyes. "I really do wonder where she went." He looked out the window. His eyes seemed to look beyond the clouds.

Jack looked up at Raynerof. "You mean Cupid?"

Raynerof nodded. "I simply believe Pitch has trapped her. I'm not close to sure he has her." He sighed. "However, knowing her free spirited nature she could be anywhere.

Jack looked away. He thought about the tone Raynerof was using when talking about her. Then he looked at Ranerof. "Do you... love her?"

Raynerof shook his head. "I'm just concerned for the children."

"Why?" Jack raised a brow. "I mean you don't have to be guardian to care for children, but isn't your work with old people? You hardly see children compared to us, the Guardians."

Raynerof smiled, recalling the small boy who tugged at his cloak the day before. He looked at Jack with the same look he gave the boy. "My work is with those who are born and dying. I see children and newborns everyday. Some are fortunate... some have a worse fate than you."

Jack's brows furrowed, but then he recalled his birth as a guardian, his last moments with his sister. He remembered the release he felt on his back as he slept all those years in the ice cold water. The release felt like a chain that was being ripped or broken in a not so painful way but a relief.

Raynerof looked out the window. "For quite some time, since Cupid's disappearance, some children haven't felt loved. They feel abandoned when left alone for even the smallest bit. That is why I believe many children have become ruder over the time she's been missing, which has been quite some time. Because a loved child wouldn't throw a fit that I've seen quite often."

Jack looked at Raynerof. "That's just because of how they're raised."

Raynerof shook his head. "I said loved, not spoiled."

Jack was taken aback. He tried to remember a time that his sister cried. There was very few, very short memories of that. Raynerof was right.

Raynerof stared at Jack, then went on. "That is why I want to know where Cupid is. She may not be needed for every child, but love is essential for every child. After all, a child doesn't just believe in a Guardian and not love them."

Jack smiled and nodded, recalling his own childhood memories of North. Although he got coal for Christmas, he still liked North.

"However," Raynerof removed an eyelash from his eye, "I fear where Cupid may be and her inability to hate."

Jack blinked. "What do you mean?"

Raynerof took a quiet deep breath. "Many, many years ago, Cupid saw Mother Nature. From her, Cupid learned that Pitch once loved, as a father and a husband. Because of that, Cupid didn't care if he was the Nightmare King or not, she didn't want him to be alone. The reason she didn't want him to be alone was because she didn't hate him. And because she didn't hate him, she believed Pitch couldn't hate everyone. Her belief was only strengthened when she felt that Pitch still loved his daughter so very much. So when she found out that he took a liking to someone, she set out to find a way for him to be with that girl. She believed that he deserved love as much as anyone else, no matter what. I knew of this interaction because she would come by on occasion and tell me of her progress." He took another quiet deep breath. "However, I don't know what's become of her. I haven't seen her in quite a long time."

Jack shook his slowly. "I don't get it. Why would she trust Pitch in the first place? She must have known that Pitch hated her, that Pitch hates everyone. I mean, she's Cupid! She can sense that!"

Raynerof nodded. "I blame her inability to hate. Even when she was alive, it was a problem."

"What happened to her?"

Raynerof's shoulder fell slightly. He shook his head, more at what he thought than anything else. "That's her story to decide to tell, not mine." He stood up and began walking away.

Jack quickly followed. "But I want to know! I love stories. You must know that."  Jack grinned.

Raynerof smiled, shaking his head. "We have a bigger problem ahead of us, Jack. We must still decide about Pitch's new child. Besides, what if she didn't want people to know how she died?"

Jack stood in front of Raynerof, stopping him. "At least tell me her name. That's a good chunk. I can probably create something from my own imagination from there."

"What makes you think her name was something besides Cupid?"

Jack's eyes shifted. "I don't know. It just seems like it. I mean, my name isn't exactly 'Jack Frost.' It's Jackson Overland Frost."

Raynerof smiled and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "You know her name, Jack. In fact, you've known it the longest."

Jack's brows furrowed. "I do? I have all my memories, but I don't remember meeting her."

"You have to look back a bit further than when you got your memories back." Raynerof began walking away.

Jack followed after him, trying to recall Cupid's name. Unsuccessful, he frowned, then grinned. "I just realized something." 

Raynerof rolled his eyes playfully. "What?" 

Jack smirked. "You didn't rhyme during most of that conversation you just had with me." 

Raynerof stopped in his tracks. He smirked and turned to Jack. "I don't have to rhyme all the time. In fact the reason I do it is so I seem wiser." He poked Jack's forehead. "Admit it, you thought I was outrageously clever." 

Toothiana flew to them rapidly, knocking over a few toys. "We have to go. The warren's a mess."