Monster

Chapter 2

Jack led them to a hospital. In a lone room, a single man was asleep. It was incredibly quiet, like the man was already dead. But he wasn't, not yet at least. The heart monitor confirmed it.

He looked to be in his mid twenties, had brown hair and very pale skin.

"I wonder what happened to him." Tooth said.

"Hypothermia" Jack answered.

"How can you tell?" She asked.

"I've seen it before" He explained. "A lot"

Not wanting to spend any more time there than he had to, Jack turned his staff into a scythe and got to work. It was quite simple really. A single touch with the blade and the soul was laid to rest, stored in his scythe until Death came to collect them.

"I'm done, let's head back" Jack said, still refusing to look at her in the eyes.

Just like before, their journey was silent. But this time, Jack felt like something was wrong. A presence he hadn't noticed before, it was dark and coming from… behind him?

The only one behind him was Tooth, so who was that presence? Attempting to spot the entity, he looked over his shoulder and to his surprise there was… no one. Turning completely around, he noticed that Tooth had stopped following him. He could just make out her silhouette further behind.

"What's with the holdup Tooth?" He asked, flying towards her.

She didn't say anything, instead she just looked down at the far off ground.

"C'mon Tooth, you can tell me what's wrong" He said.

"That man…"

"Damn, I knew it was a mistake to take you" He sighed.

"No, not that" She said.

"Then what?" He asked.

"That man, he was alive. And just like that… Who could you do it?" She asked.

"Do what?" He asked.

"Take his life" Tooth screamed, startling Jack. "What gives you the right to end a life just like that?"

"Well… I…"

"They don't get a second chance like you did" She said.

"Tooth, you're acting weird" Jack informed her, trying to get a hold of her hand. "Are you alright?"

"DON'T TOUCH ME" She screamed, causing Jack to stop in his tracks. "You monster"

"M-Monster?"

Those words hit Jack like a ton of bricks. Of all the people he knew, he never expected to hear that from Tooth. Tooth began to quickly fly away, which caused Jack regain his composure and pursue Tooth to get some answers.


Even after a few minutes of flying as fast as he could, he still wasn't able to find Tooth. He felt tears welling up, signaling he was ready to start crying any second now. That is until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Thinking it was Tooth, jack hurriedly turned around only to come face to face with no other but his worst nightmare…Pitch.

"Hello Jack" Pitch greeted, causing Jack to get back and put some distance in between them.

"Pitch, what are you doing here?" Jack asked.

"What? Not even a hello or an 'I'm sorry I ruined your plans to dominate the world'" Pitch joked.

"You got exactly what you deserved" Jack said, gritting his teeth and clutching his staff with both his hands. "And now I'm going to do it again"

Jack did his best to hit Pitch with his ice, but every time he tried Pitch just disappeared into the sand and reappeared somewhere else.

"Now, now Jack. I'm here to talk, not fight" Pitch argued. Jack knew he wouldn't be able to take down Pitch by himself so he decided to play along.

"Fine, what do you want?" Jack asked.

"Oh, this isn't about what I want" Pitch explained. "It's about what you want"

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked.

"What else? I'm talking about your little girlfriend" Pitch answered.

"Tooth? What did you do to her?" Jack demanded.

"I might've clouded her mind with a little fear, nothing much" Pitch joked.

"Then all I have to do is beat you and she will be okay again" Jack said.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Even if you manage to free her from the spell you still wouldn't know where she was. I've got a new hide out you see" Pitch explained.

"You're a monster" Jack said.

"Who? Me? I don't think your feathered friend would agree" Pitch said. "Wasn't that what she called you?"

"That was your doing" Jack said, struggling to believe what Tooth had told him.

"Oh, was it now? The fear was already there, I simply gave her a push" Pitch explained. "So, ask yourself this: Who is the real monster here?"

Jack fell silent. He actually was scared of what the boogeyman could tell him.

"I'll tell you who" Pitch said. "You might collect souls for a living, but do you think your other friends know I'm back?"

"W-what are y-you saying?" Jack stuttered, slowly backing away.

"Wouldn't it be a surprise for the other guardians if I dropped by for an unexpected visit?" Pitch asked. "After all…"

"…I'm the real monster they should be scared of" Pitch finished, disappearing into the black sand.

Jack just stood there awestruck. The one man he thought could never scare him actually did. He was completely paralyzed by fear. That is, until Pitch's words finally registered.

"I've got to warn the others" Jack said, immediately rocketing towards the North Pole.

Far off, above the Eiffel tower, he could see the fireworks exploding in the air. And a single thought appeared in his mind. 'I'll definitely show Tooth these fireworks, even if it is the last thing I do'


Meanwhile at the North Pole, North and the yetis were hard at work like always. North was lecturing some elves in his office about some pranks they pulled while the yetis made toys.

North was almost finished when Phil burst into his office. He tripped on the elves and almost fell on North.

"I thought I already told you to knock" North said angrily.

Phil immediately started to spout some gibberish that only North could understand.

"WHAT?" North screamed as he finished translating Phil's words.

North headed towards the entrance of his workshop and immediately found what he was looking for.

"Jack" North called.

He was surrounded by elves and yetis so North couldn't see him directly, but the commotion was enough for him to know. As he approached him, he noticed that he was lying on the floor panting heavily from probably flying too fast.

"Jack, what's the matter?" North asked.

"Iwasgoingoutwithtoothwhenshestartedactingstrangea ndthen…"

"Jack calm down, I can't understand what you're saying" North said.

Jack took a deep breath to calm down before he tried to say something again.

"Pitch is back" Jack said, frightening everyone in the room.

"Are you sure?" North asked.

"Yes, he kidnapped Tooth" Jack explained.

"I see. We need to call the other guardians immediately" North said, heading towards the globe to call the other 2 guardians.

As soon as he reached it, he immediately pressed the button hoping that the guardians would come to help.


After about half a hour, Bunny and Sandy arrived at the Pole and Jack was able to tell them about what happened. They were both scared and pissed. Just like Jack, Tooth was like a member of their family. If it was a fight Pitch wanted, it was a fight he would get.

"So, where do we start?" Bunny asked.

Almost immediately, Sandy formed an image of Tooth and her fairies above his head.

"Sandy's right, if we find Tooth first we'll have a better chance of beating Pitch" North said.

"We should also check in on the other fairies, if they stop collecting teeth things could get worse for Tooth" Jack added.

"I'll go and explain everything to them" Bunny offered.

"I'll go get a globe and some yetis to protect them" North said, leaving the room with Sandy right behind him.

"Don't worry mate, we'll find her" Bunny comforted, giving Jack a pat on the back before leaving after North and Sandy.

"I hope so" Jack said, looking up to the moon through the window.


On top of the Big Ben, in London, a lone elderly figure looked toward the horizon. He was none other than Father Time. He was bald, had a long white beard and wore a dark blue cloak. In his right hand he held a mahogany cane.

As if sensing danger, he walked back inside and took a seat in a chair, waiting for the one he had sensed to reveal himself. Black sand seeped into the building and joined a few feet in front of him. And out of it emerged Pitch once more.

"Ah... Father Time. It's so good to see you again after all these years" Pitch greeted.

"Pitch, you really have returned" Father Time said. "The moon warned me of you but I did not want to believe it"

"If the moon warned you of my revival then surely he also warned you why I'm here" Pitch said.

"You wish for my scythe, am I correct?" Time asked.

"You are indeed correct, so if you were so kind to hand it to me I would be grateful" Pitch joked.

"I will be honest with you, I am too old to fight, especially against you, and I am not allowed to fight others using the scythe. But allow me to ask a few questions" Time requested.

"Very well" Pitch agreed.

"Why do all this?" Time asked. "Spreading fear throughout the world and taking my scythe for what? Petty revenge?"

"I'm tired of being ignored and the guardians stood in my way, all I want is to go back to the good old days" Pitch answered.

"And kidnapping the Tooth Fairy?"

"Ok, so maybe I want a little bit of revenge" Pitch added.

"Against Jack Frost?"

"Against all of them" Pitch shouted. "Now give me the scythe old man and my plan will be complete"

"You may think so" Time said, extending his cane, turning it into a scythe and giving it to Pitch. "But the guardians are strong and will not give up without a fight"

"Oh, but that is exactly what I'm expecting"


Meanwhile, Bunny had went to the Tooth palace and came back with news of the fairies.

"So, how are they?" Jack asked.

"They'll keep working, but they also seemed pretty mad at you" Bunny answered.

"I don't blame them, I'm pretty mad at myself too" He explained.

"Listen kid, no one could have predicted Pitch would come back this soon" He reassured. "You couldn't have known"

"No, I should have noticed as soon as Tooth started to act weird something was wrong" He argued, falling deeper into depression.

Before Bunny could argue further, North burst into the room with Sandy flying beside him.

"Glad you're back friend" North greeted.

"Save the greetings for later, right now we have a lot of work on our hands" Bunny said.

"Agreed, we need to find out where Pitch will strike first" North agreed.

After thinking for a bit, Sandy tugged on North's jacket and made a little girl out of sand above his head. She looked to be very young, had fairy wings on her back and was chasing Bunny.

"Sandy, are you saying that Pitch is going after Suzie and Jamie?" Jack asked, causing Sandy to nod as a response.

"Of course, it was because of the ankle bitters that we beat Pitch last time" Bunny remembered.

"We need to stop him" North said.

"He shouldn't be at full strength just yet so we need to beat him as quickly as we can" Jack explained.

"We take the sleigh" North said.

"Ok, let's go" Bunny agreed and started to walk away when he noticed the others looking at him like he had grown another head. "What?"

"You're going to ride the sleigh without arguing?" Jack asked.

"We don't have time to argue" Bunny explained.

"He's right, we need to make sure the children are alright" North agreed.

"Ok, I hope Pitch's ready because when I find him I'm going to make him tell me where Tooth is" Jack said as they all headed towards the sleigh.


Meanwhile, Pitch was in his new lair, listening in to the Guardians' latest talks. Father Time's cane in hand and the Tooth chained by his feet.

"Oh, we'll see about that" Pitch mocked, laughing as loud as he could, little did the guardians know of Pitch's new attained advantage.