Can I just say; wow. You've all completely blown me away. It's been so little time, only a little more than a week, and yet you've all sent me so many wonderful comments. Thank you all who favorited and followed this story. I've never gotten such a quick response before, and it was truly wonderful to see in these dark days of Nanowrimo. Thank you all.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: For the sake of the story, I'm going to be taking a few liberties with the effects of belief on the characters. Happily, they didn't go into much detail about how it worked, so I have a little leg-room. I will also be mimicking parts of the movie. Cookies for people who point out which parts!
Also, if anyone could tell me if it's Santoff Klausen or Santaff Clausen or any combination thereof, you wouldn't have my eternal gratitude.
Warnings for mild swearing and very whump!Jack. Return of evil!Pitch
Chapter 2
When Pitch was finished, he shoved Jack into an empty cage. Jack spat blood out of his mouth, hearing the fairies' trilling rise to shrieks as the bolt slid shut. He tried to glare at Pitch, but his head ached where it had struck the bars.
"Shut up, all of you!" Pitch roared at the fairies before turning back to Jack. "Don't think this is over, Frost. You still have Guardians to kill for me."
"Not if they get me first." That was his hope. By now, the things Jack wanted had been whittled down to two items; protecting Baby Tooth and the other fairies, and making sure Pitch Black lost.
A Nightmare rammed into the cage, making it tilt nauseatingly. "Quiet," Pitch ordered, "I have important things to deal with. You will have to wait." Shadows swirled to life at his feet, swallowing Pitch. He stepped out of them in the center of the room, next to his globe.
Jack's head ached. His mouth was thick with blood, but he didn't care. What mattered more was that Baby Tooth was alright, that she wasn't in Pitch's fist, ready to be crushed. Jack had never seen a dead fairy before, but seeing all the weak fairies caged in Pitch's lair, he was starting to think he would soon, and he was determined that Baby Tooth not be one of them.
The little fairy had been given her own cage, so that Pitch could remember which fairy was the one Jack was ready to do anything for. She peeped at him, flitting as close as she could. He reached out a hand to her. The cages were just close enough that they could touch.
"Don't worry Baby Tooth," he said, straining to make his voice carefree, "I'll get us out of here, no problem!"
She chittered at him, placing delicate hands against his fingers. He could feel her wingbeats stirring the air around him.
Jack had been waiting three centuries to be touched. While he wasn't sure how he felt about Tooth sticking her fingers in his mouth, or North clapping him on the back hard enough to tip him over, Baby Tooth's hands on his own sent a jolt of happiness through him.
"It's fine, really. I've had worse." Her voice rose in a wail, and Jack winced, head throbbing, "Ok, maybe not. Sorry about my teeth getting all red. They probably don't look like freshly fallen snow anymore."
The squeaks coming from her sounded an awful lot like scolding.
"Sorry, sorry. No jokes about the teeth, I get it."
She trailed off, looking sad. Jack hated to see anyone sad.
"The service here really stinks, I think I'm gonna need a word with the manager." Jokes usually worked, or at least, he'd seen them work on other people. But Baby Tooth was a stubborn one. She patted him on the hand, making small noises of sympathy.
Jack was quiet. It was a difficult concept for him, but the last thing they needed was for Pitch to notice Baby Tooth again. "Really, I'll be fine. I'm gonna get you out of here. I promise."
He'd never had someone to promise anything to before. Jack would have to make sure that he got it right.
A wail rose up among the fairies. Jack looked down to see Pitch circling his globe. It took him a minute to realize what the problem was.
"The lights are all going out," he whispered.
"Happy Easter," Pitch said to the globe, running his hands along it. Where his fingers touched, straggling lights went out.
Jack shoved himself against the side of the cage. He needed to get out, he needed to fix it, it was all his fault- "You can't do this!"
"I think you'll find I can." The Nightmare King's smile was predatory. A dozen more lights winked out at the sight of it. "The Guardians have had their turn on the world! Now it's mine again. It's time for the world to remember Pitch Black." He turned back to the globe. "Only six more believers left. Six precious children who believe in the Guardians with all their little hearts. Oh! Better make that five. Four…
Three…
Two…"
Baby Tooth shuddered, covering her eyes. Jack nudged her with a knuckle.
"Look."
The smile had frozen on Pitch's face, melting into something angry and fierce. A single light shone from the globe, despite the nightmare sand attacking it.
"Jamie!"
Pitch growled. "One." He told himself. A hand summoned a fleet of Nightmares to his side. "We have work to do." With a glance up, he called, "Make yourself at home, Jack. I believe you'll be here awhile."
x
Three hundred years, and Jack Frost had never learned how to pick a lock. He'd never had to. Now, penned in on all sides and with a fairy (maybe even a friend?) depending on him, he was starting to regret the loss.
It was harder to summon ice without the staff, but he had enough magic for a tiny icicle. Currently it was rammed into the lock, as Jack wiggled it.
"Come on," the icicle snapped. Jack sighed, turning to Baby Tooth. "I don't think this is going to work."
The tiny fairy was pressed up against the side of her own cage, trying to twist her head so she could fit her beak into the keyhole. With a forlorn chirp, she assented.
"Hey, don't worry. We'll think of something. Do any of your sisters have any ideas?"
The resulting trills grated on his ears, but Jack's headache had healed a while ago.
Jack groaned and threw the remainder of his icicle into the abyss. "We need to get out of here! We need to help Jamie!"
"Touching." They jumped. Pitch was standing in a shadow. Tight in his grip was a squirming bundle. "Even after they no longer believe in you, you're holding out hope for your precious Guardians. What's wrong? Did you think they were coming for you?"
Jack scowled. Anger was good. It hid the dart of pain. "No."
"Let me go!"
Baby Tooth wailed. The bundle jumped, as if someone had kicked out from within it. Pitch dumped it unceremoniously into a cage, and out tumbled a boy with a missing tooth. Jamie scrambled to his feet. He was in his pajamas, a stuffed bunny held tight in one hand. "Who are you?"
"I'm the monster that lives under your bed, Jamie. Don't you remember me from when you were small? I'm hurt." Jamie gasped as the shadows at Pitch's feet whirled, "No matter. We'll have plenty of time to get reacquainted."
"He doesn't have anything to do with this!" Jack shouted, "Leave him alone!"
"He has everything to do with this!" Pitch snarled, "And as he refuses to do anything but believe in the Guardians, then this is all there is for him. There's more than one way to snuff out a light, Jack, and this way just happens to be more fun then most."
Jamie squinted at the Nightmare King, then at Jack's cage, "Who are you talking to?"
Jack couldn't hold back a wince. Pitch smirked at him. "No one."
The child summoned up his best glare. "You're crazy. When my mom finds out you took me, she's going to-"
"Be terrified, I'm sure. And I'm sure that fear will be delicious. The fear of adults isn't as nourishing as that of children, but then," he leered, "I'm sure I'll get plenty of both in the next few days. And who knows how little Sophie will feel, when she finds out her big brother is missing?"
Jamie's face wavered. "You l-leave them alone! Don't go near my family!"
Pitch was could have gloated for much longer, in fact he had been planning on it, but a sudden spark on the globe caught his attention. One of the children in South America had lost a tooth and had a weak memory of rainbow wings.
"The lights can go back on?" Jack said. Pitch ground his teeth. A wild, half-formed plan began to bloom in the frost spirit's mind. Right now he needed time. He called down to the Nightmare King, "How long does your sand last? Looks like it's starting to wear off already. No wonder you needed to take Sandy out first."
Pitch glared at the cages. If there was another believer, the Guardians would be running to find the brat. Jack had already proven that he wouldn't be able to follow orders. "Enjoy my hospitality, Jamie." He said, sinking into the shadows, "I'm sure I'll find my way back eventually." He vanished, off to Peru.
"What a drama queen," Jack mumbled to Baby Tooth.
A dry sob made them look down. Jamie had curled up on the floor of his cage, hugging his stuffed animal. "I want to go home!" Jack hated crying. Kids should laugh. Apparently, the fairies agreed. They trilled, making the boy look up.
"What are you all?" shakily, he stood up, squinting into the nearest cage. "You look like the Tooth Fairy." Happy chirping met this statement. "Are you her helpers?" More twittering. "Did he catch you too? Is that why none of my friends believe anymore?" Taking their replies for agreement, Jamie's face pinched with fear. "What about Sophie?" At the chirping, he frowned. "Isn't there anybody here who can talk to me?"
Baby Tooth looked at Jack. The spirit shrugged, reaching for his hoodie. "He can't see me, remember? I don't really exist."
The fairy rose higher into the air, borne on indignation. Jack Frost had saved her from a Nightmare's jaws, had protected her from Pitch. He'd come back for her when the Nightmare King had stolen her. He had the whitest teeth of anyone she'd ever seen. No one was going to tell her he didn't exist, particularly not Jack Frost himself.
Jamie looked up at the tiny fairy in the smallest cage, shooting off squeaks a mile a minute. "Why are you all alone?"
The fairy began talking even faster, pointing her head and both hands at the large, empty cage beside her. Her tone fluctuated between anger, frustration, and sadness.
"Let it go, Baby Tooth." Jack's voice was soft, resigned. "He's not going to see me. Just be happy he can even see you, the way things are going." She jabbed his finger with her beak. "Ow!"
x
Jamie held out on the locks a little longer than Jack had, though he didn't know it. He slumped down on the floor. "I want to go home. This is the worst Easter ever." He scrubbed under an eye. "Maybe Cupcake was right. Maybe I dreamed it. Maybe this is a dream too."
The light on the globe sputtered.
The solitary fairy twittered at him again, but she'd gotten less energetic over the hours. Jamie wished he knew what made her so sad. If they spoke English, he could have helped them.
"I'm sorry, I don't understa-"
Jamie forgot what he was saying. The large cage next to her was tilting. Ice bloomed in the space between the bars. Far as he was away from it, Jamie could see pictures being drawn in it. An egg, decorated for Easter. Then a Christmas tree. A tooth.
"Who's doing that? How is there ice?"
The single fairy made a noise of derision, crossing her arms.
"Not ice? Like ice? Ice, snow, fr-" He stopped talking. For a moment, he stopped breathing. Jamie had seen the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Santa. How many other myths had he heard about? Who had the scary man been talking to, before he'd left? Someone named Jack? And designs in ice, not ice, but-
Bundle up. You don't want Jack Frost nipping at your nose.
"Jack Frost…"
And suddenly the ice (frost) shattered into snowflakes. Behind it, Jamie could see a startled, skinny teenager with a shepherd's staff, like the ones in Christmas pageants. The teenager hugged the staff to him, eyes wide.
"What did he say?" he whispered.
Jamie stared, "No way. Jack Frost?"
The teenager made a strangled noise, head twisting to the single fairy. "He said it again! But that's, but that's me!" he looked at Jamie again, at a loss. "You said my name! He said my name!"
Jamie gaped at him. "Jack Frost…"
The shepherd's crook clattered to the floor. "He can hear me?"
"Of course I can hear you."
The teenager (Jack Frost) took a tentative step closer. "Can you… see me?" Jamie smiled, nodding. Jack Frost whooped, jumping into the air. Snow exploded around him. "He sees me! He sees me!" The little fairy trilled happily, the others joined in. Jamie wasn't sure what was going on, but the elation on the spirit's face made him grin.
"How did you get here?"
"Pitch got us," the euphoria died, Jack looked at Jamie "We have to get you out of here. You need to get to the Guardians."
"Who?"
"Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny. You know them. You saw them, didn't you?"
"You were there for that?"
Jack nodded fervently. Now that someone could see him, he wanted to make sure his existence was firmly acknowledged. "Of course I was! And you remember that awesome sleigh ride?"
"That was you?!"
"That was me!"
"What about Sandman? Where is he?"
Jack's face faltered. "Pitch…Pitch got to him."
The bottom dropped out of Jamie's stomach. "Oh." For a moment, he'd forgotten where they were. The boy looked over the edge of his cage, into the far-reaching shadows where he was sure that nightmares and monsters waited for him…
A snowball struck him in the forehead. Jamie's head jerked up, just in time to dodge a second attack. Jack smirked at him.
"Don't worry about that, ok? I'll find a way to get us out of here." Children weren't supposed to worry about things like that. Jack didn't count himself as a child, but in this situation he figured he was the closest.
"Are you a Guardian too?"
Jack hesitated. "Not quite. I mess up too much for that."
Jamie scowled. "Well when we get out, I'm going to tell them that you should be a guardian!"
The half-smile on his face was shy, not like the arrogant ones he'd shown everyone else. Jack wasn't sure falsity was the proper course of action with Jamie Bennett. "I'm not sure that's how it works, but you're welcome to try. First, let's just worry about getting you to them."
x
They could hear Pitch now, sliding into the shadows. "Did anyone miss me?"
"Jack," whispered Jamie, suddenly grey, "I'm scared."
That wasn't alright. Pitch didn't need another weapon to use against them. And not at Jamie's expense. Jack knelt on the cage, as close to Jamie as he could get. "I know. But don't worry about Pitch. I'll take care of him. We're going to have a little…" he stopped, blinking, "A little fun instead. That's it."
"Jack, what-"
But the shadows were moving again, bulging with the forms of Nightmares. Pitch walked among them, looking immensely pleased with himself.
A glance at the globe showed Jamie Bennett's light glowing steadily. "Look at you, Jamie. So full of belief. Tell me, child, do you believe in the Boogeyma-" A snowball struck him in the face. It knocked him into a Nightmare, who skittered on black ice and plunged into the ravine. The King of Nightmares ended up on his rump, snow littering his hair.
Jamie stifled a laugh. His terror was draining away, leaving only a trace. He glanced at Jack. The boy could see him. His light was even stronger than before.
With a roar, Pitch lunged for Jack. His hands sank through the bars of the cage and dragged the spirit up by his collar.
The small smile on his face vanished, Jack tried without success to squirm out of his grip, "Stop! I didn't mean to do it- I need to make snow! I can't help it!"
"We'll see if we can't fix that!" snarled Pitch.
x
The Guardians called in a lot of favors that day. Groundhog, when he had finished laughing himself sick over the state of Bunnymund, had agreed to help. When Pitch sensed a disturbance in his hordes of Nightmares, he assumed it was the Guardians making a feeble last stand. He raced off, unaware that it was a diversion.
The boy screamed with surprise as the Guardians tumbled into Pitch's lair. He was terrified, his hands red and chapped from pulling at the bars of his cage, but he was unhurt and clearly still believed.
"You have to help him!" he shouted as North fumbled with the lock on the door and Tooth struggled to free her fairies.
"It's Jamie, isn't it? Jamie, go to the sleigh. It's up that ladder; we don't have time-"
"He's gonna kill Jack!" the boy insisted, trying to run for a tunnel. When North grabbed him he fought the Cossack's hold, "He stopped talking hours ago!"
"To the sleigh, Jamie," the boy opened his mouth, but his protests died as North lumbered for the tunnel, "I will handle this."
Baby Tooth, freed by Toothania, fluttered weakly to his shoulder. He carried her in hand as he went. The air was thicker here, hotter by the tunnel's mouth than it had been anywhere else.
"Shostakovich," North murmured as he took in the sight.
Pitch had built a fire beside Jack's cage. It roared and crackled, flooding the walls with heat. A shepherd's staff was placed carelessly beside it, as if Pitch didn't care if it was eaten by the inferno. Orange flames painted the walls in warm hues, the air was awash with heat.
Jack Frost was curled up against the bars, as far from the fire as he could get, in a slump that made North think that he was melting. White hair was plastered to his head; his hoodie was sodden with melted frost. Water slid off him, trying to make ice, to form a protection against the flames, but its caster was too used up to manage it. The prisoner breathed shallowly, face flushed purple. There was an array of bruises there, with more vanishing into his water-logged sweater.
His eyes cracked open as North ripped the door off its hinges, but he made no move to flee. "Y're a bastard, Pitch," he croaked, voice slurred, and North went vertigo with discomfort. Then his eyes landed on Baby Tooth, held safely in North's hand, and fear contracted his face. "I didn't mean it," he said softly, and North realized with an unpleasant lurch that Jack Frost was pleading, that he thought North was Pitch, that he would crush the little fairy. "I didn't… mean it…"
Baby Tooth cheeped and flew to him. Jack caught her and cradled her against his chest, leaning weakly away from North. "Baby Tooth…"
"Jack," the boy flinched. The Guardian of Wonder tried to soften his voice, "Iz North. We must go now, before Pitch comes back."
Jack licked his lips. They were peeling with heat. This was not good. No ice spirit should be in the presence of this much fire, this much heat. "No. No, you're a Nightmare. Or an illusion. Again. I won't fall for it again, Pitch!" his voice cracked. "They're not coming!"
How many times had Pitch made him think they had come to rescue him, only to spark Jack's fears again? North's heart ached. The boy was delirious with heat stroke. How was North supposed to convince him that this time was real?
Baby Tooth chattered at Jack. He looked from her to North again, and a flash of lucidity caught his face. Slowly, he turned to the Russian again.
"North?" his voice was small, tremulous.
Then the light left his eyes. "You're here for Jamie. He's the third cage on the right." A weak joke. His repertoire was running thin. Jack slid down the bars of the cage again. Half-heartedly, he pushed Baby Tooth away. "Go with North." He told her.
"Jack, we have no time. You must come now."
His eyes had already slid shut again. "Y're here for Jamie, not me. You gotta get him out of here. S'not s'fe."
North grabbed his shoulder, ignoring the icy sweat that flowed off the boy. At the touch he moaned, trying to twist away. "No more, Pitch. No more illusions. Please. I'll do better next time."
"Izvinite, Jack," he apologized, hefting the spirit over his shoulder. Baby Tooth burrowed into the soaked hoodie, peeping comfort. "You are coming with us."
"M'staff," he whispered. North picked it up, safely out of the way of the fire. Jack gasped when it came in contact with him, and North felt a sudden chill. The sweat on Jack's arms froze, pressed against North, the boy took a shuddering breath.
Jamie rushed for Jack as soon as North reached the sleigh, and there was no time to process that the boy could see him. "Jack!"
Jack blinked blearily at him. "Sorry about messing up your rescue, kid. I do that a lot." he managed before passing out.
Tooth, laden with fairies, looked at North for help. "The sleigh won't get off the ground. There isn't enough."
"I have enough snow globes to get us to the Pole," he said. Jamie looked between them, holding Jack's hand. Baby Tooth fluttered about the safety of Jack's hoodie.
"You can't leave Jack," he said, "He protected me." Baby Tooth trilled agreement.
"There will be no leaving of Jack," North told him sternly. To Tooth, he sent a glance. "You were right. Get snow globes from sack. We will go to Santoff Clausen."
Poor Jack! After everything he's been through, he has to deal with me writing more ordeals for him to go through.
Please don't hesitate to let me know what you think! I hope you liked it!
