Thanks for the idea, Ana! I am officially giving you credit. And i hate this chapter, but just keep reading, PLEASE! it gets better, i promise!
Disclaimer; I do not own Rise of the Guardians
"So that's what Santa Claus is like." Jack said.
"Wow. I mean, I've met him before, but I had no idea he was that awesome!" Jamie said excitedly. "What about the Tooth Fairy? What's she like?"
"Well, she's really nice and sweet, but belive me, you do not want to get on her bad side!" Jack started as he and Jamie walked along the faint trail that led through the forest off of the side of Burgess, Jamie's hometown. Jack had been vistiting ever since the Battle of Nightmare seven months ago. "You should have seen her when she got mad at Pitch for steeling all the teeth and her fairies. The look on her face..." He trailed off as he looked up, surprised
"What is it?" Jamie asked, following his gaze. Up in the sky, blue and green lights mingled with indigo and purple in a floating dance. They stretched across the wide expanse in two directions; north and south. For some reason, the northern side seemed to glow slightly brighter than the south. Jamie looked at them in awe.
"Hey, uh, Jamie," Jack said, still slightly confused. "I'll see ya tomorrow, alright? I...I gotta go..."
"Uh, okay." answered Jamie. "But what's with-" He was cut short as Jack took off with a gust of wind, a trail of white snowflakes behind him. "-the lights." Jamie finished with a sigh.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Jack flew over the town that he considered home, his eyes still on the Northern Lights overhead. After the Battle, the Guardians had him stay with them for a while things "calmed down". Honestly, Jack thought they let him leave because they just got sick of him being around. After that, he just went back to something of a happier version of his old life. With Jamie and his friends knowing he was there, things got a lot less lonely. He still traveled around the world, always having a snowstorm right behind him, but he always came back to this valley. It just felt familiar, which made sense, as only people there knew he even existed. But now he had to leave it behind for the time being. All the Guardians were needed at the North Pole, including him. Why, he had no idea.
Slowly but surely, the weather began to grow colder as Jack flew. It didn't bother him, of course. It didn't matter were he was; he was always comfortably cold. The Northern Lights glowed their brightest here. Soon, Jack was flying over the large icy wasteland of the North Pole. And as he looked around, he noticed other ribbons of light on all other side of him. As he flew on, they all met at one place; Santa's Northern Workshop.
Jack looked down at the white expanse beneath him. Right below him, he could just make out the outline of his friend/enemy, the Easter Bunny. "Oh, great" mumbled Jack. "It must be pretty serious if their going to put up with us arguing through out the conversation."
Jack entered over the large domed roof of Santa's Workshop via open skylight. Below him, probably the world's biggest globe rotated, covered in twinkling lights representing all the current believing children. Jack had a minor flash-back of when all those lights were going out at least ten per second. Back when they were losing the war. But ever since Jamie's revelation, the lights had been coming back on, more and more every day.
Jack shook his head. That had been a long time ago. He had to focus on the present. Like, why had North called all of them here. It had to be something important, otherwise why go through all the trouble?
He landed gently on the floor of the indoor balcony, next to the Sandman. Sandy turned and looked at him before breaking into a smile and giving him a little wave. "Hey, Sandy! How ya been?" Jack asked cheerfully. Sandman just shrugged in an 'alright' movement before flashing a little sand question mark. "No, I was hopping you would know why we're here. I have no idea myself." Jack answered to his symbol. Just then the Tooth Fairy gave a small squeal at Jack before flying over and wrapping him in a large hug. Her little cloud of ever-constant fairies trailed behind her, twittering excitedly.
"Jack, I'm so glad your here!" she said, letting go of him. "I wasn't sure if you would come. Hey, do you know what's going on? I just got here myself, and Sandy doesn't seem to know, either. We're still waiting for Bunnymund, but I doubt he'll know, either." She spoke in rapid-fire sentences, her word sharp and quick. Obvious symptoms of her nervousness. Jack chuckled. "Calm down, Tooth. I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle, right, Bunny?" "What?" asked a newly-arrived and started Easter Bunny, annoyed that he had to be pulled away from his precious egg paintings. Jack laughed again. "What are you so worked up about with those eggs? It's the beginning of November, why so stressed?"
"Because after last years failure, I've got to make sure this year is perfect, with all my best paintings on the best eggs you've ever seen. So stop distracting me!" he said defensively. "Yeah, I missed you too, considering I haven't seen ya for a good six months." Jack said with a roll of his eyes. "Boys, boys!" Tooth said, trying to break up the fighting. Her sudden exclamation caused Bunnymund to make a jagged blue streak along his egg. "Aw, now look at what you made me do! I only got so many of these things!" "Hey, don't take your bad mood out on her, you sour puss." Jack defended Tooth. "Oh, you want to see a sour puss, mate?" Bunny said, getting right up in Jack's face. "I'll give you a bloody sour puss!"
Just before things were about to get ugly, Tooth let out a timid "North? You okay?". This simple question was enough to pull Jack and Bunnymund out of their feud and look over to the corner where North had stayed silent and thinking the entire episode. "We have another threat facing us." he said grimly in his thick Russian accent. "Who, Pitch?" asked Jack in disbelief. "I thought we already took care of him." This was half statement and half question. Jack only had a faint idea of what Pitch was capable of, as he was still new to the whole 'guardian' thing. "No, he couldn't be back, not after what we did to him. It's practically impossible!" Tooth said surely. "No, it is not Pitch Black we are facing this time, but Nightshade." North announced. There was a collective gasp from everyone. That is, everyone but Jack. "What, Nightshade? Isn't that some kind of poison berry or something?" He asked in an are you kidding me? type tone. Bunnymund snorted. "Or something." he mumbled. "Nightshade is Pitch's sister spirit." Tooth explained, shooting Bunnymund a glare. "She was based off of something very similar to Pitch, if not the same thing. Only much older and powerful." "Oh. So, defiantly not a berry?" he asked. Tooth gave a small smile. "Defiantly not a berry." she confirmed.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on a second." Bunnymund said, joining in on the conversation. "Why is she suddenly back? We haven't seen her since the 1500's after she made that attempt to extend that solar eclipse." "Why do that?" Jack asked. "One, big shadow over the entire world. Would have been paradise for her." "Well, she obviously failed, so what's the big deal?" Jack said, looking out a giant window at the bright, sunny day. "Well, the thing is, she almost got away with it." said Tooth, almost embarrassed. "But she didn't." Bunny said harshly. "Only because we had help." North said, walking out from the shadows. "Oh, what, is there a secret guardian I don't know about?" Jack said sarcastically. "Who is it? Uncle Sam? The Leprechaun?" "Cupid." said North simply. Jack had a rare moment of shocked silence.
"You know I was kidding, right?" Asked a dazed Jack. "Wait, wait, I thought we agreed that Heart, regardless of her help, was never appointed by the Man in the Moon, so, therefor, never became a guardian. Not to mention we haven't heard of her since then. What if she's changed?" opposed Tooth, suddenly defensive. Of what, Jack had no clue. "Funny, you didn't say that when we decided to bring Jack in." Bunny said slyly. "Well... that was different." she said, still on her guard. Jack looked at Bunnymund and spotted him rolling his eyes.
"Aw, first you didn't invite me to the party, then you tell stories about me behind my back?" A voice hidden in the tall walls filled with shelf after shelf called. "Ugh, rude!" Out of habit, Jack pointed his staff at the wall in a movement of self defense. There was a flash of bright red and white made Jack turn wildly to the right. He backed up until he was standing next to Bunnymund. Then, seemingly from no where, a white feather with what looked like a turquoise tinge to it floated down from the high ceiling and landed between Jack and Bunny. "What..." escaped Jack's mouth just before a sudden "Boo!" made him whip around just in time to see Bunnymund jump a good five feet in the air, as the owner of the scare had been right behind him. "Oi, Cupid, don't scare me like that!" he said, a hand over his heart. The girl behind him laughed before giving him a slap on his shoulder and saying, "It's nice to see you, too!"