I have no right to start yet another story when I have yet to write like five chapters in all my other ones...but the thing is, I have no inspiration AT ALL for any of my other stories. Plus, Captured and Light in the Darkness are on hiatus. Why? I have given up on them until I get the other stories into a better stage. So please forgive me, because I just...I love ROTG, and I just had a magic idea.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned ROTG(Rise of the Guardians)
This story will be in third person POV, by the way.
Jack nervously skirted around a Dumpster in an alleyway. He had had one of his extremely rare breaks from Pitch. And the breaks were really hard to get.
He fingered his cuff, which hung heavily on his wrist. The cold black metal seemed to tighten whenever he felt fearful.
There was a whoosh and Jack turned. He had his staff, thank god, but still...it had been so long since he had fought. He was pretty sure he wasnt' really ready to fight anyone soon.
Dull blue eyes that had once sparkled with joy and life wearily searched the alleyway yet again for one of Pitch's nightmares. He might have been summoned.
Nope.
"Hello, mate, been a long time, Blizzard of '68 I believe. Easter Sunday, wasn't it?" Said a voice coolly. An Australian accent was prominent in the way he spoke.
Jack tensed. Oh, he remembered the Blizzard of '68, all right. That was the day before he was captured.
Suddenly, huge paws gripped him by the shoulders and dropped him unceremoniously into a sack. Jack insctinctively curled into a ball, letting his staff slip from his grip.
Whenever he was shoved into a sack, it meant that he had done wrong and had to be punished. What had he done this time?
He felt himself flying through the air. Did Pitch throw him?
Then the sack opened and some golden light shone through. The smell of cookies was enough to make Jack hungry for the first time in ten years.
And when the sack was removed from his head, he nearly fainted.
Clustered around him, Jack Frost, slave to Pitch Black, were the Guardians.
"Jack, I hoped the yetis treated you well!" A voice boomed. Jack winced. Loud noises meant harsher whippings and more painful cuts.
He had so so so so many questions, but he knew better than to ask them. He immediately lowered his head in submission, fingering the hard black cuff around his pale wrist.
"You must be wondering why you are here!" North said, his voice filling the awkward silence. Jack winced on instinct.
"Well now you are Guardian!" North said again, this time slightly triumphantly.
Jack stared at him, blue eyes both unbelieving, hopeless, and broken, for what seemed like an hour. Music began to play, yetis lined up, elves blew on trumpets, and fire swirled around them.
Jack resisted the urge to let loose some ice. The fire was really getting to them. No Jack, no displays of power. What will Master think? He reprimanded himself.
Finally, he burst and decided to at least cool the flames by slamming his staff down on the floor. No such luck. As soon as the wood touched the marble floors, a layer of frost covered the floor and halfway up the walls.
Jack froze. No. No no no no no no no no no no no no. No. He couldn't do that anymore. Power was not allowed. He curled into a ball, shielding his ribs, ready for the whipping that even as soon to come.
To his surprise, nothing came.
He hesitantly unfurled himself, blue eyes wary, still shielding the middle part of his body.
"Jack, what is it?" Tooth asked, her violet eye searching his. He immediately broke the eyes contact and lowered his head in a gesture of submission. He couldn't make eye contact with people.
"What is that?" Bunny asked, pointing at the dark cuff on Jack's wrist. Jack drew it in closer as it tightened around his pale white wrist.
"It's a cuff." Jack responded quietly. His gaze stayed on the floor.
"I know that, what is it for, mate?" Bunny asked impatiently.
"It's to mark me as Pitch's slave, sir. So others know. Sir." He added, whispering.
"What?" Bunny asked. Jack lowered his head even more.
"Jack," Tooth started. "We want you to be a Guardian. That's what this is all about, you see? The Man in Moon chose you to be a Guardian with us, last night. He showed you to us. So...now, will you accept?" Tooth's multicolored plumage was like a rainbow.
Jack blinked. Was that...genuine concern when heard? No, he dismissed the thought. Nobody cared about him. He was a useless, stupid winter spirit that couldn't even use his powers.
"You know what? I think we just dodged a bullet." Bunny said, stepping forward and voicing Jack's thoughts. "What does this clown know about bringing joy to children?"
Jack sighed. He was right. He was nothing but a piece of worthless junk.
He tugged on his cuff, which seemed to shrink. Pain shot through him as it tightened to where it cut off al circulation.
There was an audible gasp and Jack raised his eyes just a bit to see who gasped. As soon as he saw Tooth, he lowered his gaze again. He was not allowed to stare.
He fidgeted again, and Tooth grabbed his wrist. "What...what is this?" She asked, surprise lacing her voice.
"It's my cuff." He whispered, barely glancing up.
"What-I mean, why do you have it?" She asked.
"It's to mark me as Pitch's slave," Jack murmured, barely audible. "And it controls me too." He added.
"Pitch? Pitch Black? The Boogeyman?" North roared, stepping forward. Jack flinched away, backing away towards the wall. In his experience, roaring normally meant 'Time for a jolly good whipping!'
"Yes," Jack whispered. "He controls me."
"Pitch Black controls this rat bag?" Bunny shouted. "Told you Manny was wrong! This clown can't even look us in the eye! What's the matter, Frost? Scared?"
"Bunny," Tooth said warningly.
"Come, Jack. Walk with me." North said. Jack nodded, his weary blue eyes still fearful.
They walked through a maze of twists and turns, yetis everywhere, carrying new toys, broken toys, paint, toy parts, Chirictmas tree lights, you name it, they probably had it.
North shouted out instructions every now and then, causing Jack to flinch. He hated loud noises.
They entered a room. "Fruitcake?" North offered, holding up a silver platter with a disgusting looking fruitcake on it. Jack shook his head slowly.
"Alright then." North tossed it behind his back. There was a clatter as the plate broke.
The door slammed shut and locked. Jack panicked. Locked doors meant pain and trouble and yelling. He backed up slowly, head bowed in submission.
"Now, let's get down to business." North boomed. Jack tensed as the big man advanced toward him. Too close. He was too close.
He tightened up as he waited for the blow that would surely come, his eyes squeezed shut. To his relief, nothing came, so he opened his eyes and saw North grabbing something small and red off of a shelf.
It was thrust into his hand and he automatically closed his fingers around it.
"This is how you see me, no?" The Russian man asked. No response from Jack. "Big and intimidating, but once you get to know me, I am jolly." He gestured for Jack to remove a layer. "Fearless...mysterious...and at my center," his voice dropped to a low pitch -
Jack stared at the tiny wooden baby nestled in his snow-white hand.
"Vhat do you see?" North asked.
"A-a tiny w-wooden b-baby." Jack whispered, stuttering slightly. That was what happened when you didn't speak for a while.
"Look closer." North instructed. Jack peered at the baby.
"You have b-big eyes." He said, voice small and hardly audible.
"Yes!" North shouted, causing Jack to flinch. North didn't notice. "Big eyes that see the wonder in everything: the music in the trees, the magic in the air. This is my center. What is yours?"
"I-I don't know." Jack stammered quietly, his eyes still lowered. He tugged on his cuff nervously. Was he about to get punished for not knowing?
"Trouble at the Tooth Palace, mate." Bunny said, bursting into the room. His eyes fixed on North.
"Come along Jack," North called, rushing out of the room with Bunny. Jack couldn't refuse a direct order, that ,rant punishment, so he did his best to follow North and Bunny out of the room and to a sleigh. It was sleek and red, with a raised back and a raised driver's seat as well. There were thrashing reindeer attached with long harnesses to the sleigh, and Sandman was already sitting in it.
He was going to be in so much trouble back with Pitch.
Bunny protested, saying that his tunnels would be safer, but North hauled him in by the scruff of his neck. Jack quietly climbed in and sat in the far corner, away from everybody else.
They slid along a long icy tunnel, Bunny looking greener and greener with each sharp turn. Finally, they emerged into the cool night air and Jack breather out.
Jack almost felt like smiling, but then he shook himself. He couldn't smile, laugh, or speak unless spoken to. Those were the rules.
North made a portal with his snow globe and they rocketed through the blue light into a chaos-filled scene. Black sand shot everywhere around the Tooth Palace.
Pitch's Nightmares.
Jack shuddered and then, on instinct, when he saw a tiny Tooth Fairy about to be eaten alive, he shot up into the air and grabbed it.
You just rescued a fairy, one part of his mind whispered faintly. Just like him when he actually spoke. You disobeyed an order! The other side argued. Pitch is going to be FURIOUS!
The tiny fairy gazed up at him from it's position in his cupped hands, it's tiny purple eyes shining with thanks.
"Jack take the reins!" North shouted, thrusting the leather strips into his hands and leaping up to slice some Nightmares in half with his sharp sabers. Jack panicked, but was able to lead the sleigh to a crash landing on the ground.
"My, my, the Big Four all in one place. I have to admit, I'm a little star struck." Am unpleasantly oily voice cooed, slicing through the air.
Jack stiffened. Pitch.
"And...Jack!" Pitch's face appeared in the darkness. "Come here."
Tooth and North watched him intently as he shuffled forwards with no resistance, head down in submission and posture bent.
"Staff." Pitch snapped his fingers and held out his hand. A/N: Sounds like somebody I know! *cough cough* Jack handed it over glumly.
Then Pitch shot a bolt of black sand at Jack's wrist. It coiled around the cuff and dragged him to a pillar, chaining him there.
Tooth gasped. "What are you doing to him?" She cried out.
"Nothing!" Pitch grinned evilly. "He's my slave. He does what he is asked to. I must say, he is well trained."
"This is barbaric!" North roared, drawing out his sabers. Pitch lazily summoned a Nightmare and drawled, "Actually, Jackie here knows his position. Jack."
"Pitch is my master and I obey his commands." Jack recited, his voice still barely audible and his head still lowered. His blue eyes traced a pattern in the floor.
"That's right." Pitch said, then giving Jack a sharp kick in the ribs with his steel-toed boot. Jack winced.
"You have no right to treat him like that!" Bunny shouted, drawing out his boomerang and advancing.
A burst of black sand flicked Bunny in the face for his troubles. "Why yes I do," Pitch said lazily. "He obeys my every command. Are you pathetic Guardians trying to protect this useless spirit?"
Jack winced as he brushed the kicked place lightly with his fingers. His pained grimace made the fiery anger in the Guardians' chests flare higher.
"Release Jack and give Tooth back her fairies or else I'll-" North began, but was cut off by Pitch's oily, smooth voice.
"Put me on the Naughty List?" Pitch chuckled darkly.
They began to battle. Jack crawled over, wincing, but his chain brought him up short. He tugged weakly at the chain, but it didn't budge.
He sighed and crawled back over to the column, leaning against it.
Suddenly a cloud of sand shot up from the balcony and Jack jumped, causing a spear of pain to be driven from his kick to his neck.
"Oh Jack, I'm so sorry!" Tooth said, her violet eyes slightly dulled.
"D-dont' be, he does m-much worse w-when he's in a bad m-mood." Jack stammered, blue eyes still downcast.
"Sandy!" North boomed above him. Jack flinched.
A trail of golden sand dissolved the black chain and Jack stood up unsteadily. His cuff burned against his cool skin.
"Vhat about the cuff, Sandy? Get it off?" North asked. Sandy shook his head.
"Jack, mate, you okay?" Bunny asked. Jack nodded mutely, leaning against the pillar, which helped support his weight.
The Guardians were worried about him, a weak winter spirit who didn't even out up any sort of a fight?
A thin stick was thrust into his hand. His staff! He breathed a sigh of relief and followed the four Guardians toward a pond with a mural on it.
"Um, if you, uh, d-don't mind me asking, w-why do you guys even c-collect the teeth?" Jack asked softly, not taking his eyes off of the mural on the pond.
"They hold the most important memories of childhood, Jack. We had every child's. Even yours." Tooth replied. Jack stared at the ground in disbelief.
"M-mine?" He stuttered.
"Yes." Tooth replied simply.
"But I-I don't have any-any memories." Jack whispered, staring down at the slightly frosted pond. Him, have memories? Ha! He had probably been born into this life, a spirit that nobody cared about or liked.
The mural began to dissolve before his eyes. "Oh no." Tooth whispered. "The children. We're too late. They dont' believe."
North paced on shore, both swords drawn amd dragging in the dirt,
"Idea!" He shouted, turning around. One of his sabers nearly took Bunny's nose off and the other pointed towards Jack.
Bunny flinched, but Jack immediately cowered down, onto his knees. "S-sorry." He whispered.
"Vhat?" North asked, confused. Tooth lighted down on the frost and gently whispered something into Jack's ear. Jack unfurled, looked warily around, and then slowly stood up, still backed up against the mural.
"The sword!" Bunny hissed.
"Right! Vell, idea is that ve should collect the teeth!" North boomed. Tooth looked at him disbelievingly.
"What?" She shouted. "Do you know what you're talking about? Seven giant continents, millions of kids, it's impossible for only four or five people!"
"Psh." Bunny said. "Do you have any idea how many eggs I hide in one day?"
"And how many presents I give in one night?" North asked.
Sandy formed a bunch of golden picture over his head that seemed to mean: And how many dreams I give out every night?
"Alright." Tooth said. "Let's get this party started."
This was a long chapter! Hopefully somebody out there has an idea for next chapter...I do, but it's not fully formed yet, anyways, bye!
P.S. I WILL update Silence and Love is Blind tomorrow, Kay? And on a Thursday you guys get Love Story. See ya!