The heavy sleigh zoomed through the ice tunnels, pushing Jade firm into the solid seats. She would ocasionally grip the metal bars on the edge of the sleigh to maintain her balance, and her efforts were wasted knowing that a rigid Cupid was gripping her upper arm to support her. Her vision failed her - she could see nothing but blurry brightness clouding her eyes like she was wearing a dirty pair of spectacles. This had started since yesterday, and she knew exactly why.

The aching pain in both of her chest and heart was one of the after effects of the Hyre, indicating a worsened condition for her sickness. Jade desperately wanted to help, with anything- just anything. She felt guilty for the Guardians to fuss over her, and she pushed away the horrible thought of regretting falling in love with Jack Frost in the first place. Opening her eyes was no use, too. It had only brought irritation and Cupid would only scold her when she tries to talk or look around.

Breeze Skye was curled up in a ball, pressing herself as far as she could go against the seat's corner, ignoring the fact that a 6 foot tall Easter Bunny was overcoming his own fear of the sleigh ride just to accompany her at the back. Bunnymund's claws scraped the perfectly polished wood, whimpering every time the sleigh bumps and shakes - which is, majority of the ride.

Toothiana and Sandman stayed behind since their work was practically every night and day, and Cupid just had to trust her fairies on doing her duties since she had to go - paying for the lie she made to the Guardians and for her to show the way. Nicholas St. North, the jolly and full of wonder Santa Claus, was replaced with a strict man of his words, driving his sleigh to their demanded destination.

Cupid nudged the empty eyed Jade, who was staring absently at the seat in front of her, yet seeing nothing. Jade turned half of her pale face to her, her dilated light brown pupils spinning to focus - and failed.

"This is the most awkward ride I've ever had in my entire existence," Cupid muttered under her breath, resulting in a small smile from the fire elementor. She simply chuckled in reply, finding no reason to be in a mood for a casual conversation once the fact that her lover was in grave danger, come to her knowing.

Jade's mind flashed back to a few hours before, where they've all gathered in the central room, and Breeze suddenly dropped to her knees in front of the Guardians, clutching her heart and wailing that it hurts. Cupid's nervous explanation slipped from her lips, and she had to repeat it thrice to Jade without her yelling in disbelief. She had thought Jack was busy doing his Guardian work, and she'd always thought it was impossible that he couldn't even see her for just a second. Once she knew the reason, a smile wasn't popping until a few hours later.

She missed him.

North, almost instantly, commanded for his workers to prepare the sleigh, ordering them to gather supplies, pronto. Of course, Jade couldn't do anything since she was going blind, and the fact that she needs someone to guide her, worsened the situation. Bunnymund had to do half of the work that was supposed to be done by Cupid, since she needed Cupid's help. She had felt terribly guilty for Bunny, and though he said it's perfectly fine, Jade insisted that she would pay him back some other day.

The trip to Trylle didn't took long, thanks to North's snow globe that teleports them to the beautiful Trylle beach in a blink of an eye. After managing the reindeers and keeping them put, Jade searched wildly using her hands, for the sleigh's exit. She started to get the hang of it, taking small steps towards the open space, but her wrist was caught firmly in Cupid's grip. She was guided down, North assisting her. Once she was on the flat sand of the beach, she started to take small steps again, not waiting for anyone, as if she knew where she was going.

She stopped in her tracks once Cupid called for her in the opposite direction, and she spun, the blurry brightness only varies once her sight meets a shadow.

"What?" She replied nonchalantly, taking small but confident steps forwards. A sigh could be heard, and Jade's wrist was caught in a grip again. This had startled her, and she jumped slightly, searching for nothing.

"You should stop going anywhere all by yourself," Cupid tugged her, and she followed suite.

Soon, the five of them - North, Bunnymund, Breeze, Cupid and Jade - were walking towards the crushed castle at the end of the beach. It looked terribly damaged, and Cupid had explained that it must be the place where the three boys should consider a last stop, also adding that the legendary lake was behind the freshly damaged architecture. Jade pursed her lips for a second, unable to join in the conversation of awe between them since she couldn't see.

"Me? Stay here? Here?" Jade asked warily, her hands flailing in air since there was no one to guide her. "Yes! Stay here with this lovely fellow and wait for us, alright?" Cupid pushed her down on a seat before scurrying off with Breeze to make the cure.

They had entered the castle through the most easiest of ways since the main entrance was unusable, and once they got inside, Cupid and a weak Breeze Skye zoomed through the building, finding the cure. North and Bunnymund joined the Trylle community that had welcomed them, and Jade was left all alone with a Trylle citizen whom she couldn't see.

The man that was accompanying her introduced himself as Angus, and Jade smiled as she introduced hers. Ever so suddenly, Jade brought up the topic of seeing Jack, and Angus took a long silence to answer. He said that she might not be happy with what she sees, but she demanded, saying that she's blind and couldn't see a soul anyway. Angus guided her to where Jack is, understanding fully that Jade doesn't want to be caught by the hand and tugged on. He simply ordered directions, to which Jade followed successfully.

Angus opened the door before her and told her to just go straight until she bumps on a bed. She did, and almost tripped. Her hands flailed, but came to rest on a cold skin once she pressed the bed for support. Her face went rigid and she froze for a second, before asking Angus to leave the room politely. She thanked him once Angus said he would be outside if she ever needs him, and she sensed a tone of nervousness in both of his and her voice.

Jade's eyebrows creased together, her hands patting softly on the satin sheets that covered Jack. Her fingers finally touched his ice cold jaw, and she smiled small as her digits trailed along his face. They brushed on the cold bridge of his nose, and felt ticklish as they swiped his soft eyelashes and eyebrows. Her smile grew wider as she dipped her hand into his mop of hair, and once she swiped it, she felt unfamiliar with the roughness of Jack's hair strands. They used to be soft as feathers for as long as Jade remembers, and right now, rather than feathers, they felt slightly unhealthy.

Taking away her hand, she moved to his lips next, her smile tugging down slightly. Jack's thin lips were always satin-smooth, but this time it felt so rough and cracked.

Out of curiosity, Jade leaned down on his face, inhaling the air around him. Her eyes broke down into streaming tears as a strong smell of blood hit her senses, and her hand flew to her mouth as realisation hit her, hard.

"No..."

Her cry came out as short gasps when she tried to hold it in, her palm trying dearly to muffle the sound she's making. Instead of stopping, she cried harder and clutched at Jack's ice cold fingers, her forehead coming to rest in the crook of his neck as tears stream down her blind eyes. Dry racking sobs escaped her lips as seemingly endless flow of tears rolled down her cheeks, some wetting Jack's skin.

"I'm sorry... Really sorry." Her words tumbled out with a mixture of sobs and heaved gasps, her hands coming to clutch at his fingers tighter. Ignoring the muffled voices from outside the room, Jade wrapped her arms around Jack's wrapped torso, the smell of blood hitting her nose once more, and that made her cry harder. Voices barged into the room, and running to Jade first was Cupid, a glass of antidote in her hands.

She tugged on Jade, persuaded her to stop crying for a while so that she could take her antidote, but her words were like air to Jade. They had to leave her for 3 hours straight, alone, in the room before she could properly talk and breathe, curling herself in a ball on a chair beside Jack. Remains of her crying session were left as occasional sobs, her eyes staring blindly at where her lover laid. Her sickness got even worse, the brightness of her sight was dimming and the ache in her heart and chest turning into pain, slowly.

Cupid succeeded feeding Jade her most needed antidote, finally, after a few consecutive begs and pleads that Jade refused to reply. Once she gulped down the entire glass, she curled back into a ball, Cupid telling her that she needs to find somewhere comfortable to lay down on because the effect of the antidote was immobilizing. As she predicted, Jade didn't reply. Trusting that she would find a place, Cupid exited the room.

Before Cupid could step out of the room, Jade suddenly called out.

"Tell me a lie."

Cupid froze, her hand on the door knob as she thought of something. Jade was left dumbfounded as the answer was simple.

"Jack's dead."

Jade turned around only to find that Cupid had left the room and the door was closed firmly.

Jade laid stiff and immobile on the velvet bed in her room. Thankfully they managed to arrive home before the sun goes down, with an addition of the 3 boys. Breeze couldn't be more glum and bitter, she hadn't spoken a word. This made Jade terribly guilty yet there's nothing she could do about it. Cupid told Jade to leave her to it, that it all would turn out well.

The Guardians - minus Jack - had planned a healing method for them, and Jade didn't even want to know what it is unless she could make a change - considering that her element ability couldn't help Jack at all. So she stayed behind when the discussion was made before she realised her body became numb. She was told that the time taken for the Hyre to be dispelled was about 24 hours, and she spent most of the hours sleeping with nightmares.

One was her and Jack on the floor, blood pooling underneath their bodies. Their hands were intertwined yet both of them seemed empty, eyes to eyes with a small smile on their face. Jade then woke up startled, her body shooting upwards from the bed now that the antidote worked its magic. Feeling empty and useless, still, she just sat on her bed, head on her knees as she cried silently.

None of the Guardians seem to know that the antidote had finished doing its job, and Jade was now completely fine, that none of them visited after a few hours later where they found themselves standing in the middle of Jade's room, every single interior out of place. Her belongings sprawled out of their compartments, especially her dressing table, where a framed picture of herself and Jack facing upwards, the glass shattered.

Jade was no where to be found in the room, as they have predicted, and after a few convincing words that she could be trusted going on her own, Cupid and Toothiana managed to stay inside the building without checking outside the door every now and then. Breeze had grown terribly silent, since she was half okay and she was needed to help. Her pained expression had become her trademark now, since it was the only expression she could pull when seeing Ben Stone lay on a planned space, surrounded by his element - earth.

Aqua's limp body floated in the clear water, in a more proper attire where the Guardians changed him into. No one cried for him except for Si, and Alaine, stuck in the dungeon, only could grip her heart covered in guilt once she knew what had happened. She doesn't have any feelings for Aqua in the first place, actually, and that made her feel more guilty since Aqua, Ben and Jack had nothing to do for her and Jade's war that turned into disaster.

Jack Frost, his attire now clean and fresh from blood, lied frozen inside a clear box of his size, kept in the coldest part of the pole. His company was none other than the Guardians, switching from North to Bunnymund, Toothiana to Sandman from time to time. Creepy as it sounds, the one who stayed longest, yet looking out from afar, and guarding every time nightmares tried to bother, was Jade Flame. Her hair red as rose, tied up in a messy ponytail for comfort, was hidden under a cloak as black as night, her brown eyes never seem to be more bright like a predator and the red halo around her pupils seem to indicate how forbidden she is to get near to Jack Frost.

The shiny black bow and arrow was attached to her back, her dress had turned completely black and fit to her body. At first glance, she would look like one of a girl version of Pitch Black, but her innocent smile and bright eyes differentiate herself from being one of Pitch's crew. Except for now, there was no smile. Just bright eyes, like a tigress waiting for her lunch.

An arrow was shot just as Jade heard steps in the snow behind her. Her eyes narrowed into slits, scanning her surroundings which was snow white. She started to just think it was the trick of her mind since she was alone, so she turned her head back to monitor Jack - in the box, as she may add, lowering her bow yet still gripping it tight just to make sure.

Her breath hitched up her throat once chills ran up her back, which was exactly her reaction to everything danger. How frozen Jade was in the spot showed evidently how startled and shocked she was, seeing it before her very eyes.

- Alli :3