A/N:
Muse went crazy. 'Nuff said.
(please refer to chapter 10 of "Shards of Ice" beforehand.)
Disclaimer: Don't own RotG
Jack and Jill,
Went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down,
And broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
"Well, well, well. And what have we here?"
The female spirit stared at him hungrily, her pointed teeth glinting in the sparse candlelight. With an unnerving smile, she poked one cracked fingernail through the bars of his cage and gently stroked his cheek. His attempts to shuffle away were largely unsuccessful, as his cage was far too small to permit more than the smallest of movements.
Tooth practically snarled at the female spirit, her voice dark and menacing."Keep your hands off of him, Serules, or I swear you will regret it."
Serules simply smiled indulgently, looking horribly like a python that had just wrapped itself around its prey. "What, and give up such a fine source of horrid memories? My dear Toothiana, I'm afraid you misjudge me."
Tooth's glare turned almost feral."I do not misjudge you. You are a monster, who preys on bad memories and on trauma, and I will not let you hurt him. Now keep your hands off of him."
Serules' smile remained, but it now had a dark and somewhat bitter tinge to it. "A monster, am I? And pray, Toothiana, would I be a monster now, if you had but accepted me? You would not be here now, trapped in a cage, if you had not abandoned me. Your little friend here would not be at my mercy if you had not derided me. We could have been partners, good and bad memories working together to achieve a common goal! We could have been friends! We could have been family."
The Hungarian spirit barked out a hollow laugh at that, and her dark eyes took on a maniacal glint. "But all that is past now, my dear. Now nothing you say or do will stop me. I despise you, and all you hold dear, including your little frost child. And I will break you."
And she laughed, her demented chuckles echoing off the walls of the catacombs.
Jack shivered.
The atmosphere at the Pole was tense, everyone going around their business with impassive masks on their faces and worry in their hearts. Even the normally boisterous elves had toned down somewhat, slinking around depressively with sad looks on their faces, their little bells chiming sadly.
The three remaining Guardians were holding a council of war in the Globe Room.
"We have ta find them."
The gray Pooka was the first to speak up, his words echoing the sentiments of the remaining Guardians. Bunny was right: they had to find them.
The question was: "How?"
"Now, let's see just what little secrets our dear Jack is hiding."
As the she-devil raised her hand to touch his forehead, Jack was struck with a sense of grim foreboding. The closer the hand came, the more terrified he felt.
Nononononononono-
The cold, green-white fingertip connected with his forehead, and slowly, his vision began to swirl, growing steadily darker.
A thin, painfully familiar voice whispered at the edge of his conscious.
Jack.
I'm scared.
All turned black.
"The catacombs in Paris are huge, Bunny. We will not be able to find them."
The Pooka's green eyes narrowed in determination. "We'll find them. We gotta find them."
Sandy nodded.
Blue.
Blue and black.
Blue and black and gray.
Brown.
White.
Cracking.
Terror.
"Jack, I'm scared."
"I know. But you're gonna be okay. You're not going to fall in."
Hopscotch.
A game.
"Now it's your turn."
Triumph.
Ice giving away, like a fragile house of cards.
"JACK!"
"To the sleigh!"
The gravity of the situation was clearly expressed when Bunny made no word of complaint, simply climbing into the sleigh with a scowl.
Blue.
Blue everywhere.
Water.
Drowning.
No air.
Help.
No one coming.
Why is no one helping?
Cold.
Dark.
I'm scared.
Your name...is Jack Frost.
No one spoke a word as the bright red sleigh flew over the Atlantic Ocean. But all were thinking the same thing: were Jack and Tooth alright?
He was torn from the horrible memories like a swimmer brought to the surface by a stray current. The feeling of drowning was fresh in his mind, and in spite of himself he found himself breathing rapidly.
"...Sweet Tooth?"
"Well, well, well. Looks like being an immortal child isn't all sunshine and rainbows. I wonder what else you have stored in that pretty little head of yours?"
"Stay away from him!"
He scuttled away from the pale green hand, his heart thumping nervously as he pressed his back against the bars of the cage. "D-don't touch me!"
"That would be a shame, wouldn't it? Just when we're starting to have so much fun."
Jack.
Jack, I'm scared.
The sleigh skidded down the pavement, coming to rest outside the entrance to the catacombs.
"We're here."
He surfaced for the second time, his chest heaving as he began to hyperventilate. Dimly, he was aware of Tooth yelling at Serules to leave him alone, but he knew that would not happen. He was trapped, forced to endure his worst memory over and over and over again until the end of time itself.
A pale green hand reached for him.
He screamed.
They were lost. Hopelessly lost in the maze of the catacomb's passageways.
"Shostakovitch! There is no way we can find them in this place!"
"We have ta find them, North. We have ta!"
"There is no way, I tell you-"
And that was when they heard it.
A scream.
Echoing down the walls of the cavern.
They ran like never before.
The first emotion that registered in the Pooka's mind as they broke into the room was shock.
The second was rage.
For there was that damned she-devil, bending over Jack with her hand on his forehead and sick glee on her face, while Jack screamed, trapped in a world of smoke and mirrors. And she was laughing.
How dare she!
How dare she!
Needless to say, he felt more amusement than remorse when he saw her shocked face after he had hit her in the head with a boomerang.
Jack.
Jack, I'm scared.
"Jack, are you alright?"
He broke out of his reverie only to see that the guardians were all looking at him with matching expressions of concern. With an effort, he plastered on a smile. "I'm fine."
He could see that none of them believed him, but to his relief, they didn't pry.
Jack was only too happy to escape the celebrations at the Pole and fly to his lake. As much as he liked the Guardians, he found their presence somewhat stifling, and right now he wanted nothing more than to be alone.
Expertly, he landed smoothly on his favorite branch of his favorite tree, and settled himself down for a nap. It had been an exhausting day.
But as he felt his grasp on consciousness begin to weaken, he could have sworn he saw a small, familiar figure standing in the middle of his frozen lake…
Jack.
Jack, I'm scared.
Jack and Jill,
Went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down,
And broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
A/N: Anybody have any idea what happened to Jack?
Look at the bolded line of the poem, it contains a clue...
Still don't see it?
Well, "crown" is another name for "head", and the breaking doesn't have to be taken literally...
BTW, Serules is the evil counterpart of Tooth (look at Chapter 10 of "Shards of Ice"). She feeds on bad memories and trauma (her name actually means "trauma" in Hungarian")
...Thoughts?