Jack liked to think he held some intrinsic connection with the village where he had once lived as a human and then been reborn as a spirit. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Magic was the deepest, most powerful quality there was -- and so were all the good and wonderful concepts tied to it. Family, friendship, belief, comfort -- those were all things Jack found in Burgess. But he was kidding himself; he didn't feel a thing when the Anti-Guardians attacked. Of course he didn't, he was an ocean away, chilling out in Norway. So he rather belatedly caught the news of Pitch and his cronies attempting to swathe down Guardian strongholds, and from a tooth fairy's tip-off at that. To say he was pissed off was an understatement. Oh, but his rage was contained deep under, like the mass of an iceberg with only its tip visible. He was a snowstorm of fury that could put Emily Jane on her guard, freezing up the Atlantic Ocean in his path to Pennsylvania. Sure, any place on Earth being attacked by the Antis was deplorable, but this was just that extra bit of awful. Burgess was his home. Burgess was now a cornerstone for belief ever since their victory there in '12. And Burgess had Jamie. Jamie. If something had happened to Jamie, Jack would tear his own heart out and toss it into a glacier. He'd only just started fixing their friendship again. Could the Antis somehow have found out? Was Jamie already in danger because of it? The wind howled and screamed in the spirit's wake as he flew over US soil, bringing hail and catastrophic gusts in his wake. He couldn't help it; he hadn't been this mad in... a century, if not two. And he'd had nothing to lose in the past. Now he could feel it, though... the taint that had sunk over his precious home turf. It was worse, so much worse than it had been than the time Pitch had extinguished all the lights over a single weekend. Erasure of belief was entirely different from sinking claws of darkness, evil, hatred and horror into the landscape, lives and souls of all these poor people.This was insidious and sickening and -- his stomach started to roil in disgust, threatening an unfamiliar nausea that wanted to rise up and choke him. "JAMIE!" The Bennett house was empty, the windows black and doors locked tight. He banged on them nonetheless. His first light was close, though, that he could definitely feel; Jamie's belief constantly fuelled him, no matter how far apart they were, though he wasn't properly attuned to it yet. He was still worried sick that something might have happened to him -- that he might have been taken prisoner, placed into endless nightmares, left in the forest to freeze and die... The pond was a short flight away, and a fierce and furious Jack darted over it, thinking that this must have been what the other Guardians had felt like eleven years ago when Pitch had breached their barriers and sabotaged and stolen the things they loved. Toothiana's fairies and stored memories, Bunnymund's eggs... In hindsight, at the time he'd stood around like a clueless idiot, but he understood better now. There didn't seem to be any enemies around for the time being, which was the only good thing he could see. Still, he was flying so fast that when he spotted Jamie's figure, he didn't even slow down, and flew into him so hard that he lifted him a few inches into the air. "Jamie!" Jack shouted in his ear, clinging to the man with all his limbs and every fibre of strength he possessed. Never mind breaking more of Jamie's bones or hurting him like he had during their reunion. "Oh gods, Jamie - you're alive! You're okay! Are you okay? I can't believe I wasn't here-"
