Protector (JackxOC)
Jack Frost and Pitch Black were fighting and Jack was losing. He knew he had to win for the children, he had to protect them. Suddenly an arrow flew in between Pitch and Jack forcing the fight to stop while they tried to figure out where the projectile had come from. A girl walked out of the shadows from the direction the arrow had come from. Her hair was black and braided down her back. Dark grey eyes, almost black, stared at Pitch as she advanced on him. She looked to be eighteen maybe older but the she carried a serious air that seemed draw all their attention to her.
"Back off Pitch. Leave the Guardians alone." Her voice was velvety smooth but lower and deeper for a girl.
"Never!" Pitch sneered and she lunged at her. Jack watched in horror as Pitch hit the girl sideways.
"No!" He yelled but she was back on her feet before Pitch had taken two steps toward her. She caught the handle of his scythe of black sand on her arms and pushed the weapon back up. Pitch swung at the girl again and she jumped the weapon nimbly pulling something out of the side pocket of her black cargo pants. She threw it at Pitch and he barely deflected the projectile as it glanced off his weapon and embedded itself in the wall behind the two.
"Who are you?" Pitch demanded as the two glared at each other in a battle of wills. Neither willing to back down.
"None of your business." She snapped at him, still glaring at him icily. Then she lunged at him. Jack zapped a nightmare that was encroaching on the battle but otherwise stayed out of it preferring to just watch this girl in action. Pitch's scythe slid through the air but she jumped onto the weapon and using the weapons point she launched herself high into the air.
"Jack help her! We got this!" North yelled laughing as he dispatched a few nightmares. She kicked Pitch's head back and landed with a roll behind him. Pitch grunted and stumbled again but didn't go down. Jack ran towards him and swung his crook. The Nightmare King easily parried Jack's swing but didn't anticipate the girl coming from behind him and putting him in a choke hold. Pitch vanished, his laughter echoing against the walls of the alley.
"He'll reappear soon." Jack said to the girl as they circled each other back to back waiting for Pitch to return. Barely a second later he popped up in front of the girl and took a downward swing, that was intended to split both of them down the middle. The girl leaned back against Jack and caught the blade between her hands.
"I found him." She said dryly as Pitch pulled his weapon back and out of her hands. Pitch shot black sand at them again and she shoved Jack out of the way. Jack rolled and jumped up taking a shot of his own at Pitch. The man smacked it like a baseball and redirected it. Somehow the girl was already back in the fray and had gotten close to Pitch. His scythe was almost useless in close combat when his opponent was within arms reach and as good as she was. Jack didn't want to hurt her so he didn't shoot at Pitch instead choosing to bide his time shooting a few nightmares.
"Oi! Jack, nightmare coming your way!" Bunny yelled from somewhere up on one of the roofs surrounding them.
"I got it!" Jack yelled as he froze the horse headed for Pitch and the girl. The girl was holding her own until Pitch managed to shove her back and shoot another deadly cloud of black sand at her. She ducked but Pitch was already bringing his scythe down on her. Jack ran towards her shooting at Pitch but he wasn't sure he was going to make it.
"Nice try!" She growled from the ground as she rolled out of the way just in time, before Jack's shot went wide of Pitch. Pitch had only caught the back of her shirt, ripping it but missing her. The girl swung her leg at the Boogeyman and sent him to the ground. In a flash she was on top of him pinning him to the ground. "You're not getting out of this one." Pitch struggled but couldn't move under her.
"What do you want with me?" He breathed sounding scared.
"To put you somewhere that you'll never get out of." She sneered at him. Suddenly she stood and Pitch looked smug until a tendril of golden sand caught him by the ankle and yanked him up and into the air.
"Sandy!" Jack yelled happily. The sandman threw Pitch around before the Nightmare King was knocked unconscious. North, Tooth, Bunny and Jack all surrounded the little golden man and gave him hugs. The girl stood off to the side eyeing Pitch warily.
"Jack!" Jamie yelled. "We did it!" Jack turned to the boy and smiled. He looked towards the girl and she was standing there glaring at Pitch like he was going to move or something.
"We did. Hey do you see the girl over there?" Jack asked Jamie curiously. He knew was it was like to not be believed in and he thought that maybe he could give her someone to talk to at the very least, if she didn't have believers that was.
"Do you know her Jack?" Tooth asked curiously hearing Jack ask Jamie about their savior. Jack shook his head and Jamie was whirling around trying to find the girl Jack was talking about.
"What girl Jack?" Jamie asked. Jack sighed and looked at her again.
"Hey, what's your name?" Jack called to her and she turned to him, her gray eyes piercing him.
"Archer." She said and turned back to watching Pitch.
"Ever run into her Bunny?" Jack asked the pooka warrior. Bunny shook his head but Sandy looked like he was thinking. Suddenly he made a little heart over his head.
"I haven't seen Cupid in a long time." Bunny said as North and Tooth played with the children. "I don't think he'll be able to help us Sandy." Sandy shook his head and a little arrow pierced the heart and then a picture of Archer.
"You think she is Cupid?" Jack asked looking over at the girl doubtful. She was slim and tall and a girl to top it off. Most noticeably she did not wear a diaper or have wings. She did have a bow and a quiver full of arrows slung over her back but she was dressed in black, not pink and red like Jack expected.
"It's possible I guess." Bunny said walking over to her.
"Archer, do you know Cupid?" Bunny asked putting a paw on her shoulder.
"Of course I knew him." She scoffed never taking her eyes off of Pitch who was close to stirring now. Bunny looked at her and she took a quick glance over her shoulder to see Jack and Sandy waiting for the story behind Bunny as well. Finally she sighed and continued ignoring the fact that Pitch was awake, her eyes never left him though. "He quit a few hundred years ago. There were so many people with so much love that he got burned out. His replacement couldn't handle it and so Cupid trained me and another to deal with the influx. We both have our own specialties. I guard the love siblings and parents share for each other. The strength people feel when protecting their loved ones is under my protection as are they."
"But we've never run into you before." Bunny said. He would've run into the girl at least once if that was true. After all he used to run into Cupid all the time at least a few hundred years ago.
"Look, you're will to protect the children is what drew me here in the first place. Jack's will to protect you all and his love for the children helped me pinpoint where I needed to go. But I have a strict policy against direct interference. However seeing as you were all immortals I couldn't just let you die could I?"
"I guess not." Jack said with a grin. "So why aren't you a chubby baby with a diaper, little white wings and a toy boy?" She glared at him and crossed her arms. Huge black feathered wings sprouted from her back and unfolded raising to the sky. Each wing was as long as she was tall and was deep black in color but looked soft and silky to the touch.
"I'm not a child, I don't do the whole fall in love thing. I'm meant to be feared." Seeing Jack's confusion she tried again. "I'm more like the dark side of love. Ever hear that that there's a fine line between love and hate? I deal with a lot of violence, because people try to protect the ones they love. Love is a powerful thing and when someone pushes, love can push back just as hard."
"I'm glad you saved us." Bunny said. Pitch woke up and she had her bow off her back and an arrow slotted in seconds. It was only then that Jack realized her wings had disappeared. The arrow was made of what looked like ebony with a silver tip, fletched with swan feathers. Her bow was made of the same dark wood with silvery string. Jack had seen some of the newer bows and the one she held was one he was familiar with. It was classic and so it was as tall as her torso and if he recalled correctly not easy to draw.
"Move and I'll let this loose. I don't think you want to end up pinned to the ground Pitch and I'm much quicker than you so don't even try the 'melt into the shadows' thing." Her voice was threatening and full of danger.
"I don't intend to. I know what those arrows will do to me." Pitch barely breathed as he put his hands up ever so slowly. She held the bow perfectly steady and ready to fire at a seconds notice, the arrow was nocked and held loosely by her fingertips, the string touching her cheek. Jack noticed her archer's guards on both arms and knew they'd all been stupid. Sandy was sending dreams to all the kids who needed them and slowly the guardians could feel their strength returning to what it was before.
"What shall we do with him?" North asked when he saw Archer aiming her bow at Pitch.
"Lock him up?" Tooth asked.
"Of course. All you need is a completely bright room with no windows and a door." Archer said her eyes never leaving Pitch's prone form. "I have a place to keep him." She said suddenly sticking her arrow back into her quiver and pulling out a different one with a cherry wood shaft that was blunted into the arrowhead to create an arrow with a single piece and fletching of black feathers so dark that they could have come from her own wings. The arrow was on her bow and aimed at Pitch before any of them could even blink. Then she released it and Pitch's eyes got wide as we watched disbelieving. The arrow shattered against his frame, the feathers softly floating down after the wood splintered, and Pitch's eyes closed.
"You shot him!" Tooth cried out.
"He's not dead just out." Archer said moving closer to check his pulse. Jack watched Bunny as the pooka observed Archer. Bunny's eyes had narrowed but he remained relaxed so Jack figured he had nothing to worry about. "I won't be able to carry him far." Archer said fitting her bow onto her back so that she could easily pull it out but it was out of her way and left her back almost open for her rolls and gymnastics that she used while she fought.
"You can't carry him…" North trailed off as her wings unfolded and she grabbed Pitch under his arms. Her wings beat once and they both lifted off the ground a little. At the second beat we felt the wind and Pitch was off the ground completely.
"I'll see you around Guardians!" She called as she took off suddenly flying high into the sky towards the clouds. Jack was about to shoot off after her when Tooth put a hand on his arm.
"Let her go. Pitch won't escape." Tooth said with a grin.
"I didn't think he would." Jack said looking wistfully towards the clouds where the two had disappered. Aster laughed and the Guardians began making their way towards the sleigh. The children were already asleep thanks to Sandy and the yetis, fairies and elves were getting them back to their beds.
"Don't worry Frostbite. I have a feeling we'll run into her again." Bunny said with a grin.
"She stayed hidden for a long time Bunny." Jack said with doubt in his voice.
"We protect children, Jack. We'll find her again." Bunny said with conviction. Jack smiled with him and climbed in the sleigh and they took off for the workshop. Jack almost couldn't wait until the next time the children needed saving.