When the Guardians and other mythical beings live harmoniously with humans, the world is at peace. But what happens when one person convinces the humans to stand up and take back what is rightfully theirs; the earth. Can our heroes save the day, or will they be banished from existence?
"ITS CHRISTMAS!"
For one night a year, every year, all of the Guardians and mythical beings gathered at Santa's grotto for the ultimate Christmas party. The room was painted in a deep mahogany colour making it look like the inside of a wooden cabin, it looked truly beautiful. The work shop area had been magically transformed into a dance floor and bar where all of the party guests were dancing. An infinity chocolate fountain stood next to the stupendous Christmas tree in the corner of the room which was held up by cables creating the illusion of it floating in mid-air.
Tooth and her fairies were on the dance floor drunkenly stumbling around to the music in an attempt to dance; Bunnymund had already started to argue and poke one of the Yeti's exclaiming that Easter was a much better holiday than Christmas; Sandy was stood next to the fountain sneakily dipping his finger into the chocolate and shoving it in this mouth when nobody was looking; Jack and Pitch were stood next to the Christmas tree very tipsily trying to play an improvised, and if they said so themselves better version of buck-a-roo, which involved seeing who could add the most items on to the tree before it fell, in their increasingly drunken state neither realised that it was held up with cables; and finally North was stood on the balcony overlooking the hall a small grin on his face as he scanned the merriment taking place below.
As he finished scanning the room satisfied everyone was in attendance he began to loudly tap the corner of his glass until the room fell silent.
"It's been another successful year!" He began, "I would like to congratulate everybody on their hard work, their good deeds, and protecting the children of the Earth. I would like to say: A merry Christmas to all!" He raised his glass of eggnog and concluded his speech with, "And to all, a heck of a good night!" He chuckled as the room erupted with cheers and the music began to play again amongst the sound of chatter and laughter throughout the hall.
Walking down the stairs to join the rest of the party North opened his arms welcomingly to greet his fellow guardians, "My friends! How are you enjoying the party?"
"I'm-like-really-really-enjoying-it-so-much-and-HIC!-and-so-are-my-fairies-and-HIC!-wow-this-egg-nog-is-strong-HIC!" Tooth over excitedly nattered. He laughed.
"Enjoying my very Russian eggnog, I see! Come, let us all dance!" He cheered as they walked on to the dance floor passing Pitch who had left Jack alone by the tree to refill their glasses again.
Pitch walked back over to Jack carrying two glasses of eggnog; in his absence Jack had thrown an elf who had told him off for tampering with the tree as high up the tree as he could manage in his inebriated state… which wasn't nearly as high as he had hoped.
"There! That's a better bauble!" He snickered, placing his hands on his hips.
"Impressive" Pitch smiled, passing Jack the glass. He accepted and gulped it down in one. Pitch stared. "That's going to go straight to your head, you know!"
"HIC, who cares?!" Jack belched.
"Well, you can go and refill your own next time, I am not doing it again until I've finished my drink!" he declared.
"Oh, oh! CHOCOLATE!" Jack hollowed, running over to the fountain and sticking his tongue out like a child to collect as much chocolate as he could. Sandy grinned at the boys antics and decided to mimic him, he really likes chocolate.
Shaking his head disapprovingly with a hint of a smirk, Pitch walked over to him. "I think you might have had too much to drink!"
"Never! HIC!" Jack cheered and ran over to the bar to get more eggnog.
"Aw, mate. You've released a monster!" Bunnymund said smoothly walking over and away from the Yeti who had somehow ended up with his head stuck between the teeth of a clamp that had been forgotten in the clean up. They laughed.
"Apparently, he can't handle his drink." Pitch replied smoothly as his eyes followed Jack bounding around the hall. As he took another sip of his own drink the song changed to Jingle Bell Rock.
"Oh! I love HIC this song!" Jack screamed from beside the bar "Pitch! Pitch! I-loooooove-this song!"
Grinning he cupped his hand around the side of his mouth and yelled back, "Yes, I heard you!" Hearing a slight huff beside him Pitch looked up at Bunny, to find the Australian glaring at him. "What?"
"...-" Bunny raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest.
"Come on!" Jack sung, jumping over to his side and pulling him onto the floor.
"Jack ..." Pitch stuttered, embarrassingly.
"What's the matter, HIC? Can't you dance?" Jack inquired with his head tilted to one side gazing quizzically at Pitch.
"Well, I've never had the opportunity to ..."
"It's easy! Just ..." He grabbed Pitches arms and began waving them in the air with a satisfied smile, "move!" He glowed, jumping around, shaking Pitches arms. They started to uncontrollably laugh whilst dancing alongside Tooth and North.
"Oh, god..." Pitch tried to stop laughing "I'm going to need another drink after that!" He said turning towards the bar.
"Oooh, get me one please?!" Jack asked, watching Pitch for a sign that he'd heard him, when he saw the nod he smiled slightly and turned back to dance with Tooth and North.
Pitch walked back over to the bar where Bunnymund was now stood with the same unimpressed look aimed at him.
"I saw that." Pitch looked confused.
"You saw what?" he replied as he busied his hands with the drinks.
"That look." He said pointing at Pitch's face, "the one that's been on your face all night when you've been anywhere near Jack. Pitch, are you starting to feel-warm inside?" He finished trying to fight the smirk that threatened to overtake his face.
"What?" He nervously laughed whilst turning away from Bunny to hide the slight flush he felt starting to creep up his neck, "W-what would even make you think that, he's my friend ..." He said looking over at him on the dance floor twirling Tooth around until she turned even greener in the face. Bunny followed his stare and then back to him, fixing Pitch with the unimpressed glare again now he had his smirk fully under control.
"Yeah. I can tell you now, mate, that ain't just a friend over there." Pitch looked up at Bunny.
"I ... I ..." He stammered. Bunny couldn't help himself any longer after seeing the boogie man so flustered and grinned widely.
"Don't worry, our little secret, eh?" He winked, punching Pitch on his shoulder and hopping off to join Sandy, who was now gripping tightly onto the edge of the fountain and leaning into the flow of chocolate with his mouth wide open. Pitch's mouth dropped open as he stared after the mischievous rabbit before regaining his wits and rubbing subconsciously where Bunnymund had hit him, he glanced over at Jack whose enthusiastic style of dancing had not waned even slightly since his departure. Sighing, he grabbed the drinks he had already made and slid back over to Jacks side determined to remain calm. Extending his arm Jack took the drink and smiled warmly in thanks.
"I'm boiling! Do you want to…" he paused, screwed up his face slightly and hiccupped again. Pitch chuckled lightly as another hiccup caused Jack to bounce slightly and waited patiently for him to continue, "go and get fresh air?" Jack asked once the hiccups finally subsided. Nodding, Pitch turned and began to walk slowly towards the door feeling Jack following closely behind.
"Are you having a good night?" Pitch asked as he opened the door for Jack, glancing back into the room before exiting himself Pitch noticed Bunny wink at him and stick his thumb up. Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, he let go of his grip on the door and followed Jack out into the cold night air.
"Yeah! HIC! I really like eggnog," he childishly grinned and swayed with his speech. Pitch smiled at him. "I'm glad you came with me tonight," Jack added hugging Pitch who stumbled back in shock. After a moment of no response his mind caught up with events and he placed his hands on Jacks back and gently squeezed him in return.
"As am I," he whispered as they pulled apart. Nodding at him Jack walked away from the front of the grotto door where they were stood and took in a deep breath of air.
"Ahhh! Would you just look at that?" He glistened. "It really is a white Christmas… thanks to me," he turned and winked at Pitch.
"Never a day's rest," he smiled at Jack and leant against the porch post and folded his arms.
"Pitch! Look!" Jack exclaimed and pointed above his head. "You're under the mistletoe! Gotta do it!" Pitch's eyes grew wide as he looked up at the mistletoe and then back to Jack; his eyes were closed, his lips puckered and he moved ever so slowly closer to Pitch. His face turned red as he watched the distance between them disappear. Heartbeat racing, breath hitched and mind blank he let his body take over. His eyes slid shut as his head moved closer to meet Jack halfway. Closer. Closer. He could feel Jacks breath ghost across his face just a little bit more…
THUD!
"Zzzzzzzzzzz!"
Opening one eye the other tightly shut, Pitch glanced around until he saw Jack lying on the floor fast asleep. Confused and just a little bit irritated, he pushed the slightly ajar door fully open to see Sandy throwing sleep balls out across the room trying to hit anyone he could, after listening to the yells and watching the sand above Sandy's head Pitch came to the conclusion that Bunnymund had told Sandy he had had too much chocolate and wasn't allowed anymore, causing the sandman to lash out. Sighing, Pitch lent down, picked Jack up and took him back inside.
"What happened to frostbite?" Bunnymund asked, jumping over to Pitch with a worried look on his face. Pitch gently placed Jack down in a nearby chair and nodded over to Sandy, who had happily returned to the chocolate fountain. Bunny laughed.
"Crikey, bit of bad luck there mate." He said, smacking Pitch on the shoulder.
"Jack!" Tooth shouted from across the dance floor, and flew over to him. "Jackie!" She slurred as she tapped his cheek. "Wakey, wakey!" She sang loudly.
"I'll take it from here!" North boomed appearing from nowhere, as he dragged a barrel behind him. "Prop his mouth open, would you?" he said as he reached the group. Without questioning him, Bunny did as he asked while Tooth continued to tap his cheek slurring the words 'wake up Jack'.
"What are you going to do?" Pitch asked looking worried and agitated.
"No problem, it's just coffee!" He grinned as he answered and began pouring the liquid from the barrel in to Jack's mouth. A few moments later North pulled the barrel away and waited. The small group held their breath as Jack twitched slightly then suddenly his eyes flew open and turned an unusual shade of orange.
"ARGHHHHHHH!" He bellowed, jolting up of his chair and dashed around the room. All of the Guardians looked at North.
"What?" The other Guardians continued to glare at him. "Ok, so it's a little strong," he waved his arms around and shrugged, "but he's up!"
"Let's dance. NO! Let's have a snowball fight! Oooo let's go running! Let's… ahh!" Jack panted rushing around the room.
"Ah, lovely. We now have a very drunk, over caffeinated Jack. Just what we need, eh?" Bunny placed his palm on to his face.
"OH, I KNOW! We should go to the village!" He sang, grabbing Tooth's hand and pulling her to the door. "Wouldn't that be sooooo much fun!?"
"YES! That's the best idea I have ever heard!" She retaliated, running alongside him.
"How is that a good idea at all?" Bunnymund puzzled as North's eyes widened.
"No, no, that's a very bad idea!" North shouted after them, but they had already left.
"Why is it?" Pitch asked.
"Arthur Mcbrain lives there. He hates all of us guardians and mythical beings and if we do anything stupid around him he wouldn't hesitate to plant thoughts about us into other people's minds, he's devious and a genius." He explained as he grabbed his hat and jacket and headed for the door shouting over his shoulder, "and with the drunken duo heading his way, something stupid is bound to happen! We've got to stop them now!"
