Chapter 2
It seemed like it was just yesterday when Jack played with his friends. Since Jack Frost's birth he hasn't interacted much with the other spirits because of his fear of not being accepted. However when he did he was easily liked for his playful and enthusiastic attitude towards the other spirits, when he actually interacted with others it usually led to a whole lot of laughter and a lot of snow.
Three hundred years of loneliness he was finally seen and surrounded by friends and family of all kinds, he was filled with contentment, and happiness.
And just like how his happiness grew, his work load also grew.
As a seasonal spirit and a Guardian, Jack had his work cut out for him. He tried to attend the monthly meetings held at the pole to the best of his ability, it didn't quite cut it. However, even though his presence wasn't there he was participating in the group effort to protect the beliefs of the children all over the world.
It was Summer of 2019 that the revival of Pitch Black was prophesied by Man in Moon.
"dadada~DUUNN, dadada~DUUNN" hummed the kosack he was testing out the new toy piano created by yours truly himself. Then he played a livelier tune and the elves danced along, echoing throughout the base was his laughter. It wasn't long before a small hand tapped his shoulder that he stopped playing.
"Sandy! ahahahaha~ welcome! here so soon for our monthly meeting?" patting Sandy on the back as the exited out the room "Dingle prepare for company"
It wasn't long for everyone to gather, first always came Sandy then Bunny then Tooth and sometimes Jack. As they waited for five minutes a bird made of snow, flew through the open window with a large snowflake in it's mouth. And on it, it said: Sorry I'll be at least thirty minutes to an hour late, so start without me. P.S. Don't forget to put out extra candy canes for me! ~Jack
North read it out loud and reluctantly started the meeting. Thirty minutes into the meeting a moonlit beam shone into the room.
"Ah Man in Moon, It's been a long time my friend!, It's going fine! We were just discussing the new movies that came out in the mortal world, it seemed like it increased the belief in all things magical, hahah great huh? anyways, What would will you tell us this time?"
The beam narrowed onto the Guardian circle. It showed a black shadow that rose from the earth and and covered the land in dark then ended.
"Is that...Pitch?" said Bunny
"I think it is. Is he coming back?" questioned Tooth
Sandy shook his head and shrugged his shoulder. That became their next discussion topic: is Pitch back?
Soaring through the sky Jack laughed, a person flying close behind him. Jack felt the cool air blow at him which increased his speed; the person behind him didn't back down and accelerated also. They dodged mountain and maneuvered through the clouds. Coming out of the clouds Jack looked behind to see if he had lost his competition; seeing no one in sight he smiled and face forward. Out of nowhere solid was thrown in front of him and was forced to slow down and dodge it; it was then that a boy with wings the size twice his length shot past him and Jack could see the boy was the cause of the flying bolder trick 'oh yea? thats how you want to play' "Wind! bring me victory!" Jack shouted and a large gush of wind pushed Jack forward.
As they switched places from first to second multiple times and attempting to sabotage each other's victory; Jack was once again first and was determined to stay there. As they race through the sky a figure in the distance drew his attention, a horse of some sort.
"What is that?" Jack squinted as he slowed down "It can't be."
Little did he realize the person behind him had already gotten in front of him flew backwards facing him and with two fingers raised, saluted him and sped to the finish line. "Hey!" Jack yelled and flew after the birdman again. Reaching there first the winged man shouted and jumped in joy.
"Whoo! First again! yea!"
He had light brown hair and a built body, his shoulders were far broader than Jack's, he wore a white drape and silver pads, flying with his large wings. His face filled with excitement from their race. His mouth was charming smile wide with white teeth, and his eyes were deep azure pools that one could get lost in.
"No fair! I was distracted!" Jack explained as he crossed the finish line.
"Well too bad, boy, ya gotta concentrate if ya wanna beat me. Now who's the fastest of them all?~" he taunted
Jack pouted, crossing his arms and looking away and mumbled some incoherent words.
"What's that? I can't hear you!"
Jack again mumbled. "What?" asked the man again.
"I said! ~~~~~"
"What I still can't hear you Jack~!" snickered the young man.
"I said that Icarus is the fastest of them all!"
"That's right buddy! but you can certainly try next time!" stated Icarus head locking Jack and rubbing his hair.
"H-hey! stop that!" Laughed the winter spirit.
"Stop it Icarus! Jack's body isn't as strong as yours! Be careful you might break him!" Joked a young women who looked like she was in her mid twenties.
The other snickered but Jack felt embarrassed "Hey!" That gained more laughs from the group. "At least I actually have an actual gender to act upon!" retorted Jack. The whole group laughed even the newcomer of the group "what can I say," shrugging her shoulders "I look hotter like this, not that i'm not hot either way" and she whistled. A Steed with eight legs pranced towards her.
"Wanna go little birdies"
"Oh you're on" replied both the winter spirit and the winged man, and they shot forward.
The sun was setting and that reminded him of his meeting that he was supposed to go to today. He abruptly stopped which surprised the other two fliers. "I uh..have to go to a meeting" They looked at each other then stared at Jack "Jeez Jack you sure are forgetful, let's race some other time, and maybe you might win this time." chuckled Icarus. "See you later Jack, have fun at you meeting."
As soon as Icarus and his friends parted from Jack. Jack went back to the spot where he saw the black horse. "What was that?" Deciding that it was just his imagination he headed towards the pole.
"Ah! Jack, welcome! We were just getting started!" belted the Cossack
" 'Bout time ya got here Frostbite! We been waitin' for hours!" Jack shrugged off the comment and teasingly retorted. "Aww, did the little kangaroo miss me?"
" In your dreams." scoffed Aster.
"Aw come on Bunny, lighten up! at least I'm here!"
"That's right Bunny, Jack's here and we can start now" Tooth stated as she was inspecting Jack's pearly whites, " Whew! still in good shape, I was afraid North's candy canes might hurt them."
" Anyway," North said as he pushed Tooth away from Jack's mouth "let us start with reporting anything suspicious"
Sandy rose his golden hand enthusiastically with a big smile. Golden wisps of sand forming images of a deadly nightmare transforming into a majestic unicorn. " Good job Sandy, Let's keep the appearances of Nightmares down " replied the Russian. Sandy nodded with appreciation.
" Ay, mate, Jus' th' other day I knock one of em' out with my latest creation," Bunny tapped the ground allowing a hole to open up; holding his arm straight out over the hole. A large object flew up and Aster gripped it's handle. " The Easter Egg, made with over two-hundred ton of pure natural resources; calibrated to shoot out over sixty eggshells per minute, and a built in homing device for long predator missiles and…" Shifting his weight to his left foot; he pulled his right arm back and threw it, just to have it round and come back directly into his hand " It's also a boomerang; top that North." sneered Aster.
North's eyes opened wide with disbelief, Aster had invented something that he did not even think about it. In moments between the Russian and Aussie's discussion, Aster shot Jack a grin. Surprised at Jack from having not yet losing himself to laughter, Aster winked and Jack could only smile back or else he would start convulsing remembering the process of how the Easter Egg was made.
" Jack I told you to stop lookin' through my stuff!" reminded the Pooka
" Are you kidding? Where have you been hiding these stuff from me! Oooh! what doe-" a yelp of pain. "Whoops….sorry, Ooo, how about this" inspecting a blueprint of -what seems to be like a sort of bazooka before it was taken out of his hands and into another.
" Oh, no, no, no, not this one Jack, I said I'll allow you to come down to the laye' whenever you feel like it, but that doesn't mean you can touch my things without permission." Jack watched as Aster looked at it longingly.
" What is it?" questioned Jack.
" Well if ya really wanna' know, this was one of my most prized possessions handed down from generations to generations of my family" he finished as Jack looked at him with awe which made bunny laugh; "Nah, I'm kidin' Jack I made it for North because we were arguin' 'bout…. somethin' now that I think about I really don't recall, besides this thing is way too big for me to be able to move freely with it"
Jack stared at it. It had a dulled but lustered shine to it and was large, very large- even Aster looked like he had a hard time holding it- an idea came to his head " How about you make it smaller and tweak it a little"
"And how would you go on doing that, I tried, modifying it to a certain size but it then decreases it' s impact power" retorted Aster and Jack was quick to reply "Well all you have to do is this" His hand moved freely and gracefully around the paper and flipping the pencil- that appeared out of nowhere- around to erase lines.
"Creiky! You can't do that! if you do that then it's instant velocity will change creatin' a hole in it's design! N' since when did you start becoming Mr. Critique? "
"Will you shut it Kangaroo, I'm trying to help you. How about this then," sketching another alternative design.
" Are you even tryin' ta help mate?, here gimme' that," snatching the pencil out of Jack's grasp
"HEY!"
" Let me show you, here is where the pressure will build up and here it will explode shooting out at eight-hundred meters per second. But then if I do that then due to the bullets size we wouls not only have to adjust it but also change the size of the model"
"Well no, because if you are able to do this then if you can find a dense enough substance to use it a propeller in this chamber then it will be able to do it with any kind of model, the real question is that how will it look like; I'd say," ripping the pencil out of Aster's hand with no protest " it can look like this"
"Oy? What's with the snowflakes?" challenged Aster.
"Well I just thought I looks much cool this way"
" Ha! No. This is my prototype not yours so" taking back his utensil and erasing and redrawing " it will look like this."
"Fair enough." examined Jack
"Seriously though, where did you learn all these thing?"
"Uh, you know, Jamie had awaken the inner Physicist in me." that earned Jack a snort.
"Yea, sure Jack, Only when the dead comes back to life"
"Hey, what can I say, they do" remarked Jack and they both contorted into fits of laughter.
"Jack? Are you Ok? You didn't respond to me?" waved Aster
"Huh? Oh yea, just thinking about our invention"
"hahaha, yea let's get over it now, have you seen anythin' supicious?"
Jack thought back to the dark figure in the distance and shook his head. Couldn't be. "Nah, nothing special unless you count your new boomerangs, other than that, yea everything seems 'A-Ok'."
" Yea, I noticed," turning his attention to the large man "anythin' else you have to say mate?"
"No, but I do wish you all a Hap-"
An illuminating light came from the small window on the high ceiling. A voice echoed throughout all of the Guardian's conscience whispering:
'Prepare my Guardians for He is back, more formidable than ever.'
"What do ya mean he's back?" Aster exclaimed "Who's back? the Leprechaun, the Groundhog?"
'Pitch Black is back. I advise you all to keep in close contact with one another; this time he won't cease to hurt others. His Nightmares have grown into a deadly and impenetrable force, but I want you all to remember what he did before he was Pitch Black.'
"Before he was Pitch Black? He was someone before he was pitch?" asked Jack
"Yes, Jack, all of us had a past before we were someone; If you truly want to know the details your fellow Guardians will tell you. Good luck."
The beam of light then faded, leaving the Guardians to whisper amongst themselves.
"So, when were you guys going to tell me about our eternal rival?" questioned Jack
"We tried to tell you but you would always fly away" assured the Fairy Queen
" Well I'm here now and I'm listening." Jack said as turned around to face the Guardians; resting his head on his staff.
"Alright, follow me" North motioned the others to him as he walked to the elevator.
"You do realize that this is goin' ta take a while right North?" The Cossack nodded in agreement with the Aussie.
The platform descended until it landed and it's door opened up. The Russian walked off, who then was followed by the others. They walked under arches, over bridges and into a large corridor which ended with an enormous door.
As they passed through the entrance the lights motioned on; rows of book shelves lined all floors -which seemed to ascend forever- which Jack stared at amazement.
"I knew you had a library but I didn't know you had a larger one beneath the pole?" declared Jack
The others walked by and Aster patted the winter sprite on the shoulder, "There's a lot'a things you don't know about this base, now come on"
They journeyed upwards until they reached a door which led to another room filled with books; although this room had actual furniture in it. North walked in and started searching the shelves until he found the book, "Ah, here 'tis the book, The Book of The Golden Age: Record of the long lost lives" he opened the book and started reading; The Guardians crowded around him.
Kozmotis Pitchner :
Age:N/A
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Black
Occupation: General of Universal Starfleet Command.
Relations: Father of Seraphina Pitchner, friend of Sehstor Bunnymund
Way Of Death: Became Nightmare King when guarding the cell of Fearlings. Evidently ended The Golden Age with the War, however his body still remains missing.
"Gen-General! he was a General?!" stuttered the youngest Guardian
"One of the best that ever lived," notioned Aster nonchalantly "or so said my great grand father"
"Then why did he become the Boogieman when he was one of the good guys?" retorted Jack
"No one knows. Some say that he was sacrificed and others say that they saw him walk right into it" answered Tooth.
"What do you mean by sacrifice?"
"Well, when the fleet rounded up all fearlings into a prison, no one wanted to guard it; but Pitch volunteered. However, that action confused many people because he had a child back at home; being a one parent family he had to watch his child also." added North
"So you're trying to say that he might have been blackmailed or pushed to guard the cell?"
"Not quite," interjected a velvety voice " you see It was simply an urge that brought me to that cell, a decision, really."
The Guardians stood defensively towards the direction of the familiar voice. Out walked a dark figure robed in shadows which blended into his gray toned skin.
"Pitch." The Winter child threatened.
"Jack." he replied with a smirk.