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Chapter 2

"I have to say, this is very, exciting."

Jack jumped. He knew that voice, he did! Where did he here it? He knew it, it was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't place it. He swore he knew that voice!

"The Big Four, all in one place. I'm a little star-struck." The tell-tale voice paused, continuing in a mocking tone. "Did you like my show on the globe, North? Got you all together, didn't I?"

The mockery in his voice, the know it all quality, like the voice was holding a piece of information he wanted just out of reach. Jack knew it all, he recognized it! How?

The Tooth Fairy interrupts, zooming up and threatening the voice that belongs to a man of shadows Jack can hardly see. Jack marvels at how the shadow seems unfazed, taunting her back in that voice that he knew.

He's staring, but he doesn't realize till that voice says his name. "-Jack Frost?"

He laughs, and Jack knows it. It's to cruel, to harsh, but he knows it.

Pitch pauses, catching sight of the confused frost child below him. Pitch knows that face from somewhere, that hair, those eyes. He can't place it, but it's important, and it's pestering him. He glances around, golden eyes flitting to each of the guardians. His eyes flick past the Tooth Fairy, and it clicks. The fearlings inside of him rear, trying to stop the inevitable outcome, but they've become weak. That's how he's even able to access the once buried memories. The fearlings try to stop it, but little snippets of memory rush towards him, demanding his attention, pulling at his grasp on his mind. His vision blurs, and he's pulled back into his own mindscape to watch scenes play out.

"'my name is Jack'"

"'it is like, stupid easy to hack into the 3d printer'"

"Hey so I upgraded myself and I have voice capabilities now!"

"Stop, ok just stop um, ok stop what you're doing I have the med droid on the way ok, Koz?"

"Kozmotis takes a few minutes to process the question. "No. No, robots are r-rubbish. I mean there's..." He coughs, wincing, "there are bioengineered bodies. Mostly used by the obscenely rich to give themselves a young new body to play in. It's a mix of robotic and biological, but works like a real body. I-It's v-very easy to download any system into one. Some people load AI's into them to use like a maid service." He has to pause to take a few deep breaths, biting down a sound when the shrapnel grinds against his ribs. "And fortunately for you, I have connections."

"I...wow really?"

"Promise." His breath is a soaked rasp and he can see the room blurring. "I think I'm dying." He says casually."

"Oh, that's the female needed to make a new meatbag right?"

"Why can't you say 'organic' like all the other computers?"

"I don't think it'll get easier for me."

"It wasn't hard." Jack says nastily. "Maybe they should have made the walls better."

"you're just as real as any of us."

"Did you know," he chokes out, tears in his eyes, "I failed nearly all of my programming classes when I was in school?"

"Fun fact," Jack says, and Kozmotis feels a chill of horrified dread at how pleased he sounds, "you can never fully delete anything."

"I said stop! I don't want you to! You can't make a copy of me!"

"He highlights them, feeling a bit silly, and changes the font to comic sans."

""Did you make a picture of yourself?" Kozmotis interrupts quietly."