"Are your Guardians?"
Jack was running. He was getting closer. He could feel it. Something just around the bend, if only he could catch it...
The alleyway was small, square-shaped, but if he listened hard enough he could hear...Laughing? Crying? No, it was sand, and it was catching up, catching up, catching up: It caught him.
The sand tentacles were unfurling around him. Being inside the sand was a molasses like experience. It was hot, too. Burning hot, wonderfully hot.
"Hello, Jack." It was a voice from far away. An echo of a presence that left chills down Jack's spine.
"Who are you?" He had felt silenced up until now, as if he was being muffled by something. Something that stopped all extreme reactions, something that didn't let him lash out.
"I'm like you, Jack. I want to be believed in. We can be believed in, together."
"Wh-How?" He didn't realize how desperately he wanted it. The desire seemed to bubble up inside him, clawing.
"We'll be feared. Fear, Jack, is everything we need." There was a discernible shadow now, something that was darker than the things around it.
"I want to be believed in, not feared." He growled out.
"Ah, but you don't see how there's no difference-"
"Wh-!" He was being muffled again. A conscience suspended.
"Between being feared, and being believed him. You don't think all of those children ask themselves, 'What if the Tooth Fairy doesn't-"
"Let me go!" Everything shone blue for a second. Long enough for Jack to get a glimpse of chiseled features, of dark tallness and disposition, looking horrified.
"You're strong, then. A harder challenge than I thought." There was a silence as Jack breathed heavily, charged up in a power rush.
"But don't you want to be stronger? No bribing children, this time. Not like those silly guardians, shunning you out. It's their turn not to be believed in. Their turn to lose family. We could be a family." Everything was hurried this time, as if the shadow was catching up on little bouts of thoughts popping into Jack's head. Much too messy to be convincing, but enough said out loud to strike fear in him.
"Yes, let it seep into you. Fear, Jack, and you'll be believed in."
The world became too fast. The sand was getting tighter, he was weak. He was so very weak. There was so much fear melting into him, into cracks in his resolve. He was so scared, so weak.
"We'll make a world where everything is Jack Frost, and Pitch Black."
Everything went stark.
Pitch's shadow moved along the tiles, announcing his threat. "It is Pitch," Bunny spoke.
"Manny, what must we do?" North's expression was of respect as he talked with the moon.
The moon answered by the form of a new crystal, letting it rise as it caught the light, blue magic pulsating from it.
Toothiana was the first to react "Uh, guys, you know what this means?"
"He's choosing a new guardian!" awed, North spoke.
"What? Why?" Bunnymund said.
"Must be big deal," North shrugged off the Pookah's outrage, "Manny thinks we need help".
"Since when do we need help?" Bunny's voice rose an octave on help.
"I wonder who its gonna be!" Tooth whisper-yelled, fluttering in excitement. "Maybe the leprechaun?" As Sandy materialized a four leaf clover on his head.
Bunny was now muttering under his breath, "Please not the groundhog. Please not the groundhog..."
North's eyes were widening in anticipation as the form of the next guardian formed atop the crystal, showing them all who it would be.
"Jack Frost." he said in polite surprise, as Bunnymund's indignation began.
When Bunny arrived at the last place where snow was due, he found nothing. Faint snowflakes fell from last night, but other than that there were no remains of the winter sprite's presence.
That is, until he saw through a window TV that there was currently a blizzard. In Hawaii.
"Now what the h-" And the rest was cut off as Bunnymund took a tunnel, cursing all the way throughout.
"Oh man, this is fun!" Jack rode the blizzard, jumping and hooting and laughing. At one point though, he rose to the top of it. The wonderful contrast between the caribbean blue and biting white almost took his breath away. He let himself fall slowly, looking at it all from the eye of the storm. His storm.
But the chuckle that resounded in his head, and the gust of pleasure that ran through his body: that was not his. He yelped, falling more rapidly before shooting towards a particularly tall black figure.
"Pitch!" Pitch's eyes went wide and frantic, and then calmed down when they fell on Jack's, who was currently a couple feet away from him, gold dusted staff held out in a battle stance.
"What?" He bit out, letting the shadows grab hold of the old woman he had been tormenting.
"What-What was that?" Upon no answer, Jack spoke again, "I-I heard a chuckle. And a... a... umm. Kinda like it was shooting through my body. What was it?" Jack's attack pose had gone awry, as he forgot he had been scared.
"We- through the shadows- are connected, Jack. Like family." Pitch still had to manipulate Jack, his possession being shoved inside him rather than through him. It made him more susceptible to fighting the shadows, and less probable to get used to them. But Jack's jumpiness was fun, and made him much more creative, so really there were few negative points for Pitch, other than him constantly needing to fight everything at first impulse.
"Like family, yeah?" Jack was a bit breathless.
At Pitch's nod, he seemed to come back to himself, continuing the conversation, "Okay. Okay. So, like, when you feed I can feel it? What about the chuckle. Could we-could we communicate through there." The last two words rang inside Pitch's head and he grinned as Jack's mouth turned into an o.
"Oh man, that is so cool! Hey- Hey Pitch: Why did the chicken cross the road?"
"No. Jack, don't you dare-"
"Cause it heard you were too nosey"
"Jack that doesn't even make any sense, and I really don't see how-"
But all that was ignored as Jack laughed about, making the blizzard behind him grow in strength, as Pitch regretted very, very deeply, having told Jack about the telepathy.
When Bunnymund arrived in Hawaii, he felt his hair stand up all over his body. His stomach dropped and he lurched backwards as he saw the black shadows and sand? Was that sand? Oh. Oh no. This was awful, worse than he could've possibly imagined. He stumbled as he tried to find the opening to his tunnel, he was still facing the blizzard. Was Jack in there? That kid had nothing to do with any of this! Pitch is gonna pay, was the last thing Bunny thought as he began to fall to HQ.
In North's workshop, North had his old battle maps out, trying to figure out what type of enemy Pitch would be. Long ago, he had been completely unpredictable. But at least he was one for theatrics, and so the guardians always had one clue or the other to his next phase in plans.
But now. Now Pitch had only announced his presence. Said he was going to do something, but what that was... North shook his head, wondering where Bunny could've gone. Had he fought with Jack? It wasn't impossible to imagine, but it wasn't like Bunny to delay something that could be vital to their victory. This was Pitch, after all.
He shouldn't have wondered for long, as just that instant Bunny burst in.
"Pitch is in Hawaii. He's already started, mate. And Frost. Pitch is attacking him, and Frost is fighting right back. We need to help him." Bunny was already getting his head into battle mode, his earlier shock fading.
"Yeti, call Tooth and Sandman." said North as he began to prepare for battle, scared for a boy he barely knew.
"Jack," Pitch's voice was sweet and quiet. They were staring into each other's eyes after a particular glaring contest to calm Jack down after he saw a little girl burst into big, sloppy tears. Too much emotion was still a calamity for him.
"Yeah?" His voice was low and raspier than usual, floating right above the ground to be able to face Pitch. The blizzard around them seemed to slow down, and the screaming felt muffled through the black shadows.
"We seem to have some company." Pitch's smile was creepy and excited. It made Jack excited, too.
Then a boomerang cut through the blizzard's wall and out another. Jack turned around in shock and fear and excitement.
"Who is it?"
"It's many people, Jack. It's 'them'." Pitch enjoyed Jack discovering new things. He could infect his mind easier that way. What better way to implant ideas into someone's brain, than presenting them as first fact?
And just like that, Jack cut through the blizzard, making black sand visible inside before it closed up again behind him. He looked into the shapes of a rabbit-like thing first.
"You threw the-" "Boomerang" "Right. The boomerang? Was that you?" Jack was still suspended in air, moving in careless gestures.
The Guardians looked taken aback. Jack's appearance was certainly changed. Instead of his blue hoodie he now wore a grey silk linen shirt, cut to three quarters on the arms. His pants were more slacks than pants, and were of a nearly-black grey. These were definitely not his clothes, and looked more like something Sandy would keep around in his ship. North was the one who spoke first, "I thought you said he had been fighting with Pitch, Bunny?"
"Pitch? You know Pitch?" Now Jack looked uneasy. This was too new, he was scared. It was delicious. Pitch continued to watch through the shadows.
"Jack. Stop the blizzard." Toothiana looked the least confused out of all of them, and she stepped forwards.
"Woah! How do you know my name?" Jack was now ready for attack. His staff was held out in front of him, right under Tooth's chin, his dark eyebrows furrowed and curious. His mouth still held that edge of a smile, only now it looked sinister.
"Jack? What do you mean? You know me. I'm the tooth fairy, we've met before."
Jack was quiet for a few moments before he opened his mouth.
"Well, if it isn't the Guardians?" Pitch came out of the blizzard, interrupting whatever Jack was going to say, and Jack took the chance to duck behind him, looking curious.
"Pitch! What is this?" North looked remarkably angry.
"This is my victory, Cossack. I will be believed in, and you will all fall. How will the Man in the Moon take to that?" Pitch was excited, and behind him Jack was wide-eyed
"We defeated you once, we'll do it again," Toothiana's swords were crossed in front of her.
"Ah. Except, this time I have something I didn't have before. Jack?" Pitch looked directly into Tooth's eyes as she looked more horrified by the second. "How strong can you make the blizzard?"
"Pretty strong" And he began smirking.
"Go." The second Pitch uttered that word, the Guardians' eyes widened and they couldn't help but back away at Jack's surge of power.
The sky seemed to explode, and Pitch disappeared behind a mass of white thunder as Jack jumped into the air, hooting and flying high above it all. Pitch rooted himself in the few shadows around and allowed for Jack to take over.