Storm of Ice

Chapter 1

Cold. That was the first thing that came when he drifted back to awareness. His whole body was so cold it was numb, and felt heavy. There was no way to know how long he lay suspended in the abyss of nothingness. He couldn't really find it in himself to care about it anyway.

It was the realization that he was cold that drew him back to himself. That slow burn of icy awareness seeped into him and slowly he became aware of other things. Such as his cold heavy limbs. Slowly, as if his body had a mind of It's own, his eyelashes slowly lifted and he was faced with his next revelation: It was dark.

That darkness was so complete that if he hadn't felt his eyes open he would have thought nothing had changed.

He stared in befuddlement at the black expanse of space that stretched out endlessly before him.

It was cold.

And it was dark.

And he was scared.

The fear quickly overshadowed everything else. In fact the cold and dark seemed to be an embodiment of his fear. It was so overpowering and seemed to freeze him in place.

Again there was no telling how long he spent encompassed in that all consuming fear. It could have been mere moments, or it could have been centuries.

Forever, frozen in a cocoon of heart stopping fear.

Then came the light. It pierced through the darkness like a gentle smile, warm and welcoming.

He felt himself reaching out for that wonderful new thing. The light wrapped around him, lifting him up, shattering the confines of his cell and pulling him into the clear wonderfully cool night air.

A gasp escaped his lips and he was gently placed down, a small part of him noting the shattered surface he was placed on smoothing out, mending, at his touch.

He sat there, dazed, for a long time simply staring at his hands, before lifting his eyes to the sky. That was when he took his first real look at the moon.

Sure, he had been staring straight at it when he'd been lifted from his cage, but he might have been a little preoccupied with other things when that had happened, such as his first taste of freedom. But now, now he saw. The moon.

Oh, the moon.

It was so big.

And it was so bright.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from it, mesmerized by it's simple elegance and the subtle pull of magic.

It was while he was staring into the face of that moon that he heard the voice. It was barely a voice at all, merely a whispery touch across his mind granting him knowledge.

A word.

No.

A name.

Jack Frost.

A smile slowly spread over Jack's face, morphing very quickly into an all out grin. Jack Frost. That was his name.

It was that singular burst of childlike joy that sent Jack hurling into the sky, a jet of ice particles dancing in the moonlight in his wake, a dazzling tail of diamond dust trailing behind the beautiful winter sprite.

It was with a single minded determination and youthful wonder that Jack set about discovering who he was and what he could do. A cold wind lifted him into the sky, carrying him with ease and all too willing to do as he bid. Magic sang under his fingertips, sparking out whenever he so much as brushed against an object, be it the ice of the lake or the trunk of a tree, twisting and twirling in little curls of shimmering white glitter that clung to any surface.

It was beautiful, and Jack was so distracted that he remained completely in the dark to the tall figure watching from the shadows on the other side of the lake. A bitter sneer curled the man's lips and he cast a hate filled look at the moon before vanishing from the spot.

The boogeyman had work to do.

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A few hours after wakening Jack sat on one of the slanted roofs in the small village he had found. The young man was clutching his side as if in pain and he was staring down into the town square with hurt eyes.

"They can't see me." he whispered to himself, half afraid that if he said it loud enough no one would hear and he'd be ignored...again. The pain of being invisible was immense, and it had hurt when those people had walked through him, it was a strange sort of pain that Jack doubted he could explain and didn't want to dwell on. In truth Jack wasn't sure which was worse, being seen through or...well...being walked through. To have someone walk through him as if he wasn't even there. It was a physical and mental anguish that had completely caught Jack off guard.

"If...if they can't see me, and they can't touch me..." Jack wondered to himself, feeling as if a heavy stone had lodged itself in his throat, "Then...am I even real?" That agonized question slipped through pale lips and Jack turned tear filled eyes towards the moon hanging low in the night sky.

He waited, with baited breath, for the moon's non-voice to whisper gentle reassurances into his mind and ease this terrifying thought from him.

Long minutes trickled away, slipping silently into the past as Jack waited unusually patiently for his answer. An answer that never came.

As the sun slowly rose to greet the dawn Jack turned his back on the watching moon and stared blankly down at the slowly stirring village below him.

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Jack remained on his perch for only a few hours, question after question haunting his thoughts and leading him in a never ending spiral of confusion and sadness.

A light teasing tug on his cape and hair had him looking up from contemplating his toes, "Wha-oh, hi Wind." He greeted his new companion, which tugged on his cloak again like an overzealous puppy begging to play. A small grin lit his face at the wind's antics, "Okay, okay, I understand. No more moping, I promise." He said before diving off the roof.

The wind stared down at the winter spirit's plummeting body in surprise for a second longer than Jack had anticipated. He watched the quickly approaching dirt pathway, his eyes widening comically, "Oh, shit! Wind!" He screeched, throwing his arms out in front of him to try to help cushion what was bound to be a painful landing.

Jack's shout snapped the wind into action and it swooped down at record speed to whisk the young man back to safety.

Jack gasped when the wind caught him, his whole body hovering for a long moment and he stared down at the tightly packed earth inches away from his nose.

A hysterical giggle slipped passed the boy's lips, a grin tugging on the corners of his mouth. Giggles quickly grew into full out laughter, and Jack very quickly fell into a laughing fit that none of the passing humans could hear.

Jack chose to pretend they could actually hear him and were giving him amused looks once they had passed behind his back. Not wanting the adrenaline high to stop Jack pulled his feet under him and pushed off, rocketing into the sky with a shout of glee.

He raced across the rooftops, playfully trailing fingertips over windows and doorways, sealing one of them shut with a layer of ice completely on impulse. Jack laughed wickedly and sped off into the trees.

He could spare some time to do a bit of exploring.

He made a game of it, launching himself from tree to tree, leaving different designs every time he made contact. Jack was still laughing to himself when he stumbled into a clearing where he found the strangest creatures. There were two of them, small blue bald little guys that couldn't be taller then his knees. They were stick thin and had huge hooked noses that looked almost like beaks. They each had four long spindly fingers tipped with long talon like fingernails. Each one was sitting on a humongous white wolf, their fur tipped with icicles, and claws that looked like clear jewels.

Both paused in whatever it was they were doing to look at him as he crashed into the tree branch he'd been aiming for.

Jack gasped for breath as he scrambled up onto the branch, ignoring the blossoming ache in his torso. "You can see me?" Jack exclaimed excitedly, leaping down to greet the two strangers. The smaller of the two creatures shrieked loudly when Jack landed and Jack simply smiled, bemused, before moving towards them, fully intent on introducing himself and making a couple friends.

He came to an abrupt halt when the woods around them came to life and a dozen more of the creatures materialized from the cover of the trees. They were all riding the enormous white wolves and all of them had their lips pulled back in sharp toothed snarls.

Jack's eyes widened and he quickly took a step back, only that seemed to make matters worse because the small one from before let out another shrill cry. The wolves launched themselves towards Jack, the small viscous creatures on their backs yelling what Jack thought might be some sort of battle cry.

Jack took off, back into the trees. His heart racing as he sped through the foliage. The creatures right on his heels. He could feel the wolves hot breath and sharp teeth snapping at his feet.

Jack landed on a branch and glanced down just in time to avoid the wolf that dove for him. Instead of waiting around to watch the creatures crash into the tree next to them Jack launched himself at the next creature, swinging his staff around in a wide arch, catching two of the little blue creatures and slamming them into the ground. The wolves they had been sitting on growled and lept at Jack. He dived forward, ducking under them in a summer-salt and coming up on the other side with a blast of ice that caught another attacker full in the face.

Jack didn't waste any time fleeing again, he lept straight in the air and burst through the tops of the trees. He stayed, hanging in mid air as the little monsters converged on the tops of the trees.

"What did I ever do you you?" He gasped out, staring at them in confusion as he heart rate slowed down again.

The little goblins didn't answer in any language Jack knew (which consisted of English and English), just spit and snarled and growled in their shrieking high pitched voices.

Jack scoffed at them, as they waves their little spears up at him in what was clearly a threat.

"Yeah, no. I think I'll stay right here." Jack told them, making a guess what they were saying. "I'd rather not end up as dinner, thanks." His calm, taunting words only served to infuriate the little guys and the leader screamed out a shrill command and before Jack could blink they all launched their weapons into the air.

Jack yelped, scrambling with his staff as he flew out of range again, gasping as one of the spears clipped his side.

He clutched at the wound as he glared down at the little menaces, before flying away to lick his wounds in private.

Today had not been as fun as he had thought it would be.

And to top it all off, he had no idea where he was.

The little imps shouted insults at the boy's retreating back as Pitch materialized from the shadows, his eyes golden eyes narrowed. The creatures turned their ugly faces up at Pitch, their eyes glowing maliciously.

Pitch laughed, "You did well." He commended them, to which they grinned sharply. He didn't bother saying anything else as he vanished in a shadowy mist.

He materialized back in his lair where a bright ball of golden light cast the stone walls and hanging iron cages in sharp relief.

The ball of light did not belong in his dreary home, and he detested it's presence. But progress demanded sacrifices, so he ignored his contempt for now. The closer he walked to the orb the more details could be made out, the orb wasn't, in fact, made of light but tiny grains of golden sand.

Star dust.

Or, as it was now called, dream sand.

The sand swirled lazily in the glass shell he had captured it in. Occasionally the sand would surge outward, as if trying to escape it's enclosure. It was of no use, of course. Pitch had designed this cage specifically with the star dust in mind.

He trailed a black nailed finger over the glass casing, amused as the sand shrank away from his touch as if it had a mind of it's own.

Pitch drew a lazy circle on the glass before letting his hand slip inside as if there was no obstacle at all. He pinched a small bit of the sand in between his finger and thumb and drew it away from the rest, pulling it out of the cage and into the dark room.

It was time he began his experiments. If everything went according to plan he would have a new toy to play with.

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Jack flew for a few minutes before finding a little rock outcropping to perch himself on, having made certain he was not in any way being followed.

He landed roughly, his hand still clutching his side and his breathing a little labored. He glanced around him in confusion. He hadn't thought he'd traveled very far, but it looked as if Wind had carried him a greater distance than he had noticed.

Lost was an understatement. He almost didn't know which way was up. The silvery tundra stretched for miles in every direction and met a soft gray sky that turned a light blue the higher up it stretched.

Jack was a little in awe. He'd never seen so much snow. Then again, it was early spring when he had woken up and the winter was slowly melting away in the area surrounding his lake.

This place didn't look like it had any plans on melting anytime soon and Jack felt a slow smile stretch across his face. It was so beautiful here, untouched by not only man, but animals as well. It was a wonderland of blissful sparkly snow.

Jack was in heaven.

But that didn't mean he knew where he was.

It was no matter, though, he would just have to explore. His side let out a token protest when he crouched to jump into the air to fly off. He groaned and bend in half instead, clutching his wound a little more tightly.

Something wet seeped through the wool of his shirt and he pulled his hand back in slight confusion.

Blood.

Jack blinked down at his stained fingers uncomprehending.

Oh.

Ow.

Okay, so the spear had clipped him better then he'd thought. There wasn't much he could do about it right now except put pressure on it, which he did on instinct alone, letting a bit of his magic coat the blood in a thin layer of ice and frost.

That taken care of he straightened out again, this time taking more care in the way he moved. "Alright Wind, let's explore a bit." Wind excitedly shrieked and tugged on his cloak insistently. "Whoa! Whoa! Be careful Wind, that's painful." He gasped, trying to suppress a yelp at the rough handling.

Wind deflated immediately, sifting through his hair apologetically. Jack smiled, "Now, gentle this time." He guided, allowing the wind to curl around him and lift him off the ground.

They flew for what felt like hours before they found any sign of habitation. That sign came in the form of a single shaggy looking creature stomping through the snow.

Jack flew closer to get a better look, only to go careening away as the creature narrowed it's eyes at him and swatted him. Jack landed in the snow a few yards away, gasping in great gulps of air as he fought the pain in his side and chest.

Ow.

Jack opened his eyes and glared at the retreating form. "That was uncalled for!" He shouted after it, "If you wanted me to leave you could have just said so." He grumbled to himself as he levered himself out of the crater he'd made in the snow on his landing.

He stood staring in the direction the creature had gone, the wind tugging him in another direction. Jack swatted at the air, "No, wind, not now." He said absently. The wind died down and simply waited for Jack to finish whatever he was thinking.

A smile slowly grew on his lips and he lept into the air, again forgetting about his injury and almost falling because of it. He barely managed to avoid crashing a second time then set off after the hostile furry creature.

It was another hour before anything new happened. That new being a huge fortress rising up out of the bleak landscape.

Jack could only stand and gape at the towering structure. It was magnificent, and very colorful when compared to it's setting. Jack's ice blue eyes skimmed across the flying buttresses, up the spiraling towers and down the steep slopes of black tiled roofs. The building was decorated with large open windows that spilled warm yellow light onto the snowy ground below.

"Oh, wow." Jack breathed, slowly creeping forwards to trail a hand lightly over a wall that looked to have been sculpted instead of simply built. The windows revealed wide open rooms that were so spacious that you could easily fit whole houses from Jack's little town inside.

In those rooms was a bizarre tableau, more furry creatures bustled around inside the room. Grey, brown, and white beasts clustered around wooden work tables gabbering amongst themselves as they...built...toys?

Jack rubbed at his disbelieving eyes.

Nope...still there.

How strange. But even stranger than the large hairy beasts building childrens toys were the walking pointy hats with bells on them that were constantly tripping the much larger creatures as they scurried around carrying plates of cookies, glasses of milk, and small tools or other random little baubles. Little piles of the hats sat around the room at irregular intervals and...well...Jack was unsure exactly what they were doing, though it looked as if they were attempting to build toys as well. It was a valiant effort, if doomed to fail.

Jack wasn't sure how long he stayed and watched the goings on, flitting from window to window in his curiosity. It was all very interesting, but Jack wasn't a very patient young man, and soon he grew bored. "Alright wind, take me home!" He shouted before launching himself off the highest point on the fortress.

He would have to come back later. See if he could find a way inside. That would be fun.

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No! No no no no!

Pitch snarled as he flung the glass sphere containing the last few dregs of dream sand against a nearby wall. The glass shattered upon impact raining shimmering shards and glittery silver dust onto the cold stone floor.

Useless. The whole thing was pointless. He hadn't been able to truly infuse the sand with fear or twist it to his liking. The best he was able to do was drain the sand of the magic the Sand Man had bled into it. Now it was just a pile of useless star dust cluttering up his floor.

He sneered, spinning around to stalk up the stairs fully intent on taking his bad mood out on the first available human.

Upon reaching the surface he paused to drink in the eerie night air. It was a moonless night and there was a slight fog rolling. It was a perfect setting for a Haunting.

Pitch grinned, a sharp malicious grin, and disappeared into the shadows. He emerged in the small town a few miles from his hide out, his appearance caused the black shapes to stretch and swell. The few straggling humans shuddered and eyed the darkness warily even as they sped up their pace and hurried to reach their homes.

Pitch drank in the heady cloying fear and drifted towards the nearest homestead. The windows were closed and the curtains drawn and the door was barred, but that didn't matter. Pitch slipped inside as if he were no more then a ghost.

He trailed his fingernails over the wood in the hall, the scraping sound loud in the stillness of the sleeping house.

The shade paused at the door to the master bedroom, but no, children were much easier to toy with, and they tasted so much better.

He continued on his way down the hall to the smallest bedroom where a little girl lay sleeping.

Pitch's work with the dream sand had been a colossal failure, but perhaps he hadn't been looking at the problem from the right angle. He tilted his head as he watched the sleeping child, one finger placed thoughtfully on his chin. Maybe he needed to take the fear straight from the source and twist the dream itself.

A slow cruel smile spread across his pallid features and he stepped towards bed. Tendrils of darkness seeping out from him as he loomed over the innocent child dreaming peacefully on the bed.


So, Jack's participating now..yay! I hope everyone liked it. Please tell me what you think of the chapter...or maybe what you think might happen next.

Review!