Pitch paced around his lair, hands balled into tight fists, his yellow eyed flared with fury. Sunlight escaped the spaces of the broken bed frame that served as a door for his haven. It shed light on the golden dots of believers on his dark globe mocking him in many ways that he felt like picking it up and throwing it out. Hazy gust of wind swirled around the room, the cages that hung from the ceiling creaked at the breeze gave it a shove and black sand littered around the ground. There wasn't any chance he was giving up; he wouldn't let himself be defeated by the guardians especially not a kid like Jack. He circled the globe, angrily kicking fallen sand away. The wind seemed to move with his range.
100 years of learning how to wield black sand and another hundred years of plotting his return, all gone down to the drain.
Oh how he missed the dark ages, back then everyone feared him, there wasn't any light, any hope and there weren't any guardians to get in the way.
But he will avenge his defeat; he will make sure that there wouldn't even be light left in this world. He will make everyone suffer and he will make sure Jack will suffer the most.
He will not give up so easily, he still had his fearlings, he can still wield black sand, he will never be vanquished when darkness is still present and darkness never disappears when he is still around.
It was all because of Jack Frost, he would have succeeded if it wasn't for him. At first he didn't think the winter spirit was much of a treat, he was small, scrawny and so skinny, he did not think he'd ever have the ability to fight him, he thought all he did was make snow and blizzards, but he was wrong. The boy was more powerful than he expected. Even though he broke his staff in two, which was the source of his power, he still had the strength to put it back together and fight him.
Speaking of Jack Frost, he will never let anyone, not even the guardians get a hold of such great power, as he said, frost goes well with darkness, and he will make children fear him, whether he likes it or not, besides, the guardians are powerless without Jack, they wouldn't have defeated him without the spirit's help, and the last light would have died out if he hadn't shown up.
200 years is an awfully long time, surely he has prepared another plan. He still has something up his sleeve.
Black sand crawled out the tips of his sharp fingers as he laughed menacingly, "Are you ready? Jack?"
There won't be any light left in the world, everything would be Pitch black...and Jack Frost.
"It's not over yet," the nightmare king hissed, "You haven't one yet."
The nightmare sand beneath him stirred into a mini tornado, "You will see what I am capably of."
IT was relatively dark for a day darkness was vanquished. The clouds were a mixture of grey and black, they hung low, like you could just reach out and touch them. The atmosphere was layered with cold unforgiving air and thick mist. Something was wrong, and only Sandy noticed, but he didn't feel like informing North, he didn't want them to worry in the middle of the celebration of Pitch's defeat.
Months have already passed, and nothing seems to be wrong, so the sandman just focused on his daily duties and made sure that none of the children of Burgess ever get a single nightmare, ever.
Family was the only word alien to Jack, he would take one of the million dictionaries contained in North's library and look it up, but still he wouldn't fully understand the meaning of it.
For he didn't know what it was like to have a family, he was risen out the lake Burgess several years after he drowned, his family was already dead and the worst of all he never even know he had a family until now that he saw his memories.
He spend 300 years alone, no mother to care for him, no father to play with, no one to treat his cuts and bruises, no one to kiss him goodnight, no one to tell him stories at night, nothing, all he had was himself, and the moon, who never answered his questions for years.
He wanted a family, he desperately wanted to know what it's like to have that warm feeling you get whenever someone takes care of you.
All he ever wanted was a funny, and nothing more.
The guardians were his temporary companion, he spent most of his time in the North Pole because he had nowhere else to go, he didn't fully trust them, he didn't want to fully open up to them and he didn't want to consider them as his own family, considering that they ignored him for almost 300 years.
They just accepted him for the moon's sake, North their leader, and he was kind to everyone, Bunny was only trying to tolerate him and Tooth was just being nice.
Sandy was the only one he trusted…a little, he was the only one who didn't turn him away because he was busy like everyone else did, like Bunny on blizzard 68, he only caused the snow storm because he wanted attention, whenever he tried to break in the North Pole, he was just trying to make friends.
Sandy was different, he was kind, and he would always stop by his lake to give him some dreams every night.
The meetings were held more often than before, now that Jack is a part of the guardians; he had a lot of catching up to do, he needed to learn the rules, duties and signals, everything he needed as a guardian. North wanted to check on them monthly to see if everything was doing alright and nothing suspicious was happening around them, so if Pitch Black ever returns they would all be prepared for it.
It was one of those days when North abruptly summoned them for no reason by shooting the Northern lights up in the sky. Bunny complains about how it was unfair for North to have such an easy way of calling them whenever he needs something while he himself has to travel half ways across the world to see North whenever he needs help.
It wasn't even a month yet, it was just a week after the last meeting, and Jack presumed North was changing their monthly meetings into weekly meetings now. Great just great he didn't like staying at the North Pole for too long, disregarding all those times he tried to break in.
He just didn't feel really comfortable with his companions now that Pitch was defeated.
He just felt like he wasn't needed anymore and he was just a disturbance to them.
He sat in front of the unlit furnace with his hood over his head, his wooden staff laid on the carpeted floor at he watched the guardians share eggnog and have their conversations.
He was doing it again, isolating himself from all the others. He always sat in front of the fire place, whether it was lit or not, he would normally guess how much the guardians trusted him.
He played with the yetis and messed with a few elves all the time, but once the discussions get serious, he would sit aside thinking he would just get in the way.
He was afraid, he was afraid that if he did something wrong, even if he broke a small vase they might send him away again like the time when he ventured Pitch's lair and got his memories back
Jack sensed violet eyes locked on him, he knew Tooth was starring at him, but he just ignored it, if he did turn around, she would probably invite him to the conversation they were having, like she always does, but he really didn't want that to happen, what was he going to talk about anyway? He didn't want anything to do with them, especially when Bunnymund is glaring daggers at him.
What was the meeting even about? He thought to himself, he hoped it wasn't about the frozen water parks, or he was in big trouble.
"Alright!" North boomed and clasped his beefy hands, "Let's start meeting, come here Jack," he motioned the boy to sit on the comfy red chair next to him.
Jack hesitated, but eventually picked himself of the floor and trudged to the red coach after a long chain of thoughts.
All eyes were on him, as quickened his pace a bit and settled himself on the huge arm chair.
Sandy gave him a wave; he was sitting on his little golden dust cloud. Tooth beamed at him. North gave him nod, and Bunny, he had a smirk.
What are they so happy about?
"So," North cleared his throat, "Sandy was a little bit worried about whether last week but we all know it's climate change, no?"
Sandy gave a thumbs up and nodded happily.
"But now I have called you all here because of Jack," the toy maker added, his expression was unreadable.
Yep, he was in trouble. Jack felt himself shrinking in his seat, his shoulders contracted and every muscle in his body stiffened, "is it about the water parks?"
"No, not that, those are very funny," North chuckled, "is about you, being Guardian!"
"What about it," Jack gulped and tried to keep his body from quivering.
"We don't think you trust us mate," Bunny said "Just look at your position, it's like you think we're gonna hit you or somethin' but hey, we are guardians, so it means we're a team, and you could always rely on us."
Jack sat up a little straighter and relaxed his shoulders. Strange, he never expected to hear something like that from Bunny.
"Is true, that is why we are all here, we don't want you to feel left out." North added.
"And Jack, you could always stop by my Tooth palace for a little chat," Tooth said.
"We are family Jack, and we'll always have time for each other."
Now Jack felt like a surge of electricity was trying to break out of him, he feel like he could to anything, even walk on walls and ceilings. He never thought this would be happening, he just thought if ever Pitch Black was defeated he would just go back to his normal life at the lake and go to guardian meetings whenever they are called,
He never expected the guardians to gather up and tell him that he could trust them, even if they did leave him for 300 years, he forgave them, he just didn't want to send the rest of his life alone, not anymore.
Turns out they weren't just trying to be nice after all, he knew, deep inside him he knew, what they were saying was sincere, coming from the bottom of their hearts.
North dismissed them immediately due to Tooth and Sandy having a lot of work to do. Once the room was cleared, North went over to Jack, who was laying sprawled out on the couch. Gently, he tapped him on the shoulder, which made him jump several feet away, panting heavily and holding his staff up. He relaxed once he realized it was just North, "sorry," he said "I'm just not used to physical contact."
The jolly man only gave him a warm smile, "come with me, I have something important to discuss with you." he trailed away and the winter spirit reluctantly followed him out of the globe room and into his office.
Jack stood in the middle of the room, trying to avoid the recent event where North got him pinned to the door with his gaze; Santa Clause is scarier than all the children think.
"So…."Jack began and started rocking on his heals, "Why am I here again…."
"Jack my boy, I have been observing you for these past months, and I notice you are not comfortable around us," North stated.
Jack bit the bottom of his lip, "I guess, I am not used to being around you, guys, or anything living that can see me…."
"Not true," North snapped, "you were not like this when you first came here." He stepped closer, while Jack warily took a few steps back…again, but North reached out and grasped they boy's shoulders. "Tell me, was it because of what happened last Easter? Was it because you trusted us and then we send you away? Was it?"
Jack felt tears prickle his eyes as he was reminded of the time when he was in Antarctica. He subconsciously nodded. North's grasp tightened, for a second he thought he was gonna break his bone, but instead, the Russian man's expressions softened, "Jack, I want you to trust us, we sent you away because of anger, and you know how bad out of control anger is no? We are guardians, we are family, and we will never intentionally hurt you."
Jack didn't know what to say, he recalled when Pitch told him that they will never accept him. "It was Pitch," he said out of the blue and the jolly man's eyes widened, he let go of the boy's shoulders, "What did he say?"
Jack hesitated, "That, you guys will never accept me…" he managed to choke out.
"NO!" North boomed, "Never believe him, never listen to what he says, we are your true family, and the boogyman will never understand us."
The youth's gaze landed on the ground, "But, why did you accept me?"
"Because you are like a son to me," North said, "All those years I have had my eye on you, even if you are on naughty list it doesn't matter. Those times when you tried to bust in the pole, I wasn't aware of it, if I was I wouldn't have let you in. but the point is, you are immortal, and I don't have to worry about loosing you, Jack, you are like most of the children I meet, but you have something very special inside."
This time tears threatened to escape the corner of his eyes and Jack tried the best he could to hold them back.
"I want you to stay at the pole," North took him by surprise, nearly making the boy topple over in shock, "What?'
"A proper home, we left you alone for years without even noticing, and the best thing I cold offer you is a proper home,"
All he wanted was a family, and right in front of him was North, offering him a home. He never knew what it was like to have a home; he only slept on trees and considers the lake of Burgess his home, since that was where he was risen from.
Crystal tears escaped his glassy blue eyes, "t-thanks" he whispered and North pulled him into an embrace.
It was unusual for Jack; it felt strange to be hugged by a huge Russian man. But nothing even matters anymore, he found his family, and he got everything he wanted.
Jamie is a lucky child, he gets visits from Jack Frost every night, which is was the envy of all his friends. Jack and him had a special connection, like they were really blood related brothers. Jack was his best friend and he vowed that he will never stop believing in him no matter what happens.
But he could help but feel about Jack, he never came to visit today, which made it feel like something was wrong, his mother forced him to bed, he tried to stay awake but he couldn't and eventually found himself drifting into sleep. A trail of golden sand crawled in from his window forming a snowflake above his head.
In the darkest corner of the room, Pitch Black stepped into the light, "if it wasn't for you I would have succeeded," he hissed and laid one finger on the golden snowflake, turning it into a black avalanche. "Lets see of you still believe in those pathetic guardians..."
Hey there! First chapter is already very long and I did not expect it to be that long XD so, whoever desires Rise of the Guardians to have a sequel, I just found a petition, there's a link on my profile, SIGN IT! If you want a sequel so badly. FOR BUNNY! lol
Leave a review/comment/critique I would really love to hear what you think.