A/N Present: To my readers so far, here's a present for you guys: anyone who reviews this chapter will receive a sneak peak into the next chapter!
Moonlight barely filters into the lair through the ports in the ceiling high above, so Blaze finds herself subsequently lighting torches to brighten the place up. Pitch may have the eyesight of a cat but she's blind as a bat, especially in the darkness, and she has already stubbed her toe four times on the same damn boulder. She certainly has no intentions of doing it again.
Three days in the dimness of the underground networks has her bored out of her mind, so when she finally walks in on Pitch gloating over his globe her interest peaks. The Summer Spirit resists a crooked smile and perches on a smoothed rock-like pedestal she's been using as a chair. "What's up Boss? We finally movin' into phase II?"
Pitch Black rakes his fingers along the continents of the globe, allowing a smirk to stitch its way into his face. "We'll destroy them!"
Blaze rolls her scarlet eyes skywards. Of course. "You've failed once already. How could this time possibly be any different?"
"There's two of us now!"
"And like eleven of them now!" She folds one leg over the other and crosses her arms, settling comfortably on her seat. "Your odds haven't gotten any better, Pitch. If anything, it's downgraded from five-on-one to seven-on-screwed."
Pitch snaps his head around to her, nails grinding into the mystical globe with irritation. She's never been so intimidated by him in her life, and is relieved when he breaks eye contact by sinking into a shadow. "Put a cork in it! You're the sidekick, you don't get to use probable statistics to solve our dilemmas!"
The atmosphere singes with energy as Blaze's temper flares. "I'm not a sidekick! We aren't even superheroes!"
"The appropriate term would be super villains, dear Blaze." Pitch's slender fingers slip under her chin as he emerges from her shadow. She involuntarily shudders against the chilling contact. "Just imagine... the world filled with darkness and desolation! Just like it was hundreds of years ago…" He cringes when her flesh ignites beneath his finger tips and he sinks back down into the darkness. His voice reverberates hollowly off the surrounding walls. "You can destroy whatever you want. There won't be anyone to stop you..."
Blaze presses her cherry lips into a thin line. "Promising."
"You make it sound like I'm bribing you." He appears behind her and his grip finds her shoulders. She's not above burning him, and he knows this, but this time around he doesn't care less. "But to answer your earlier question, yes, we are entering phase II."
"Leave it to me." She makes a move to leave but his grasp on her doesn't loosen. For a moment she contemplates setting her whole body aflame to teach him a permanent lesson or two, but he also isn't hurting her, so she waits for him to speak.
He leans forward into her ear. "And if anyone tries to get in your way…"
Blaze's fists ignite with intense fire.
"Don't worry, Boss. I'll light 'em up like the Fourth of July."
When his mind comes too all he knows is that he's surrounded by abyssal darkness, and that that mysterious chiming sound is a little irritating.
Gradually he registers that he is awake, or rather, awakening, and his crystallized sapphire eyes part. He is warmer than usual, a side effect of being tucked under several layers of double-stitched quilted blankets (and judging by the Russian designs defining their span, they belong to North). The ceiling above him is adorned with gold trimmings and various wind chimes that are knocking together with a metallic clang.
Jack Frost doesn't remember when, nor at what point, he lost consciousness. In fact, the last thing he recalls is arriving at North's Work Shop before his mind pitches itself into darkness. He could have been doing anything prior to passing out on spot, but his internal bleeding was definitely too great to allow him any further operation.
"Oh good, you're awake."
Jack turns his head to catch sight of Grimm perched in the window, one leg bent over the edge of the sill and his flaring gaze fixated on the early morning sky. The Winter Spirit abruptly remembers their fight with Blaze and he struggles to sit up, noting that he's shirtless and his wound is stitched closed. Someone beside him mumbles and he glances down to see the Tooth Fairy fast asleep at the edge of his bed, her head tucked into the crook of her arm to serve as a pillow.
"She hasn't left your side for three days," Grimm informs him, sliding off the sill.
"I've been out for how long?"
Grimm snorts and embers shoot through his jagged teeth. "You lost a lot of blood, given that Blaze nearly pierced through your other side. I fixed you up best I could."
Jack inclines his head as a nod of thanks before turning back to Tooth. He rakes his fingers down her shoulders, running short, frigid nails through her overlapping layers of emerald and cobalt feathers. In response she groans, clearly pleased by his actions. "A little lower," she utters subconsciously, and, with a smirk plastered on his face, he trails towards her lower back. "That's nice…"
Grimm coughs – loud.
Toothiana's roseate eyes snap open and she shoots up from her chair, realization twisting her normally elegant features. "Oh, Jack! You're, uh, y-you're awake…" Her neck feathers ruffle and she briskly soothes them down, following through with a timid giggle. "How are you, uh, feeling?"
Jack stretches his stiff side and sighs, resting his head back against the board. "I'm alright, so long as a certain Summer Spirit doesn't come busting through the door fists a-blazin'." He swings his legs over the edge of the bed a moment later and Tooth hands him his sweater, which smells like it's been through the wash to remove the blood stains. There's a line of stitching parallel to his own wound.
The wind chimes bang together a little more frequently as a breeze filters through the window. Tooth shudders against the cold, which naturally feels neutral to Jack (if anything, it maybe even felt a little warmer than normal). "We wanted to keep this room cold for you, but my feathers are starting to bristle so I'm going somewhere warmer."
As she moves for the door she casts a wry smile over her shoulder and flitters out into the corridor. Grimm perches beside the Presence of Winter, sighing as he crosses his arms against his chest. "I know you didn't want to worry her, but you can't fool me Jack Frost. How do you really feel?"
"My side's killing me," he hisses, clutching his injury lightly to repress the pain, "and my head's throbbing. You?"
"Broke a rib."
"Better than me at least."
Grimm slides off the bed a moment later. "Come with me. North instructed that once you awaken I must take you to him." The Halloween Spirit glances at the boy. "There's going to be a meeting of all the spirits."
As Jack tries to get up his side throbs and he almost buckles over, but Grimm catches him. He hands the boy the staff. "Thanks," Jack utters, using it as his main support. Grimm takes him under his other arm and guides him down the hall, right into the heart of the workshop. The Yetis greet them before continuing their construction of the toys. They take the lift up to the third level and trek around to their destination.
It's a massive room with a perfectly round table constructed out of red wood. Similar designs adorn its polished top. Tooth, North, Sandman and Bunnymund occupy four of the chairs while several other spirits take up the rest. Jack Frost had never met anyone except for Bunny in all of his previous 300 years as the Winter Spirit, before he became the Guardian of Fun.
"Jack!" North exclaims and shoots up, wrapping the boy in a bone-constricting hug. "You're OK m'boy!"
"Not for long," he mutters, gasping for air.
Santa Claus releases him and returns to the head of the table. "Please, take seat! We have much to discuss." He waits for Jack to sit down between Grimm and Bunny (who ruffles his hair and welcomes him back) before starting. There are still, apparently, three empty seats.
"This is the gathering room," Grimm remarks to Jack who is glancing around curiously. "All the spirits gather here when the Man in the Moon calls for us. We haven't used this room in several hundred years."
"I have called you all today for one reason!" North declares, startling the table and it's occupants.
"Pitch is up to no good again?" One Spirit remarks as she enters the room. She is wearing a beautiful, emerald dress that is decorated with leaf-designs and real vines that wrap around her waist and head to form a crown. Her mossy eyes scan the other spirits and they only return the look with blank stares. "Sorry I'm late." She ignores the silence and slides in next to Tooth.
"What are you doing here?" Bunny seethes, and Sandy elbows him in the side.
"North requested my presence." She folds her hands on the tabletop after brushing an obsidian bang out of her face. Her green-glazed gaze connects with Jack Frost's own sapphire eyes. "Ah, there's the Winter Spirit. You certainly love to kill my spring time flowers, don't you?"
Mother Nature, Jack realizes. "My bad."
North clears his throat. "Three days ago Jack Frost and Grimm were attacked by Pitch Black and Blaze, who apparently joined forces. Pitch is currently powerless since no child believes in him anymore."
"But Blaze is a force to be reckoned with, right?" The groundhog across from Jack his toying with his pick ax as he speaks. Tyke Duggery and Jack were on good terms with each other; he told Jack when the Winter Cycle had gone on too long or needed a few more weeks to keep the planet's temperature in order. Jack had never liked taking orders, but hey, if he kept his snow storms going into summer Blaze would only have another reason to shoot a fireball at him.
"Certainly," Mother Nature, spirit of the earth, adds in. "But do we know why she's suddenly working with him?"
"It's more like she's for him," Jack amends, "she mentioned it."
"She owes him a debt," the Leprechaun remarks and everyone glances at him. He's obviously sitting on several books to get his chin above the table. "I only know that much. The lass ain't got a choice but to obey 'im."
Bunny's accusing glare turns to Mother Nature. "You know somethin' about this, don't you?"
She rolls her eyes. "No I don't, Astor. I don't know about anything he does. Just because he's my father doesn't mean he's my dad. We don't have spontaneous dinners and talk about our weekly agenda." Natalie is all sass and smiles; as brutal as a Venus fly trap and as elegant as a marigold. Jack Frost had always anticipated her to be gentle, sweet and kind, perhaps like Tooth, but he was sorely mistaken.
"So what's his motive?" Robin, the hornet-like fairy and spirit of Spring, questions.
"He's mainly after Jack Frost," Grimm answers and crosses one leg over the other. "The Man in the Moon asked me to protect him, as I explained to North earlier. Unfortunately, since no child believes in me I cannot protect Jack any more than he can protect himself."
"But you're flame resistant," the Leprechaun notes, "you can withstand Blaze's fire better than any of us can. We'd burn to a crisp."
"That's not the problem. She broke my rib with her band hands." Grimm uncrosses his legs. "I may be her equal elementally, but physically she's superior to me. It could become a problem if they somehow manage to get a child to believe in her…both of them, even."
"There are kids who still believe in the Boogeyman," Cupid, the normally reserved spirit of Valentine's Day says matter-of-factly, "convincing them that Blaze exists, however, will be a challenge."
"Do you think they would kidnap a child?" Tooth interjects with a slight raise of her hand. "Maybe it's not a bad idea. What if they take a child who's afraid of Pitch, convince them that Blaze is real, and then feed her power by convincing more and more children?"
"But what could he possibly be after?" Bunny snarls, clearly frustrated.
"Us," Jack denotes, "obviously. Me, specifically."
"Let's just entertain the idea that my father would kidnap a child." All eyes turn to Mother Nature. "And we all know he's not above doing exactly that… he would have to start with someone who believes strongly in us. Someone he can break quickly by using this faith against them. Someone…" Her voice trails off.
In a sudden burst of realization the Guardians all shoot up in their seats.
"JAIME!"
The window creaks open when Jaime is finally dozing off. At first he brushes it off as the wind – then Abby begins to snarl, ferociously and undeterred. She's become used to Jack Frost by now, so she no longer growls at him when he flitters through the window to pay the young boy a visit. The realization that she is acting so defensively startles Jaime awake. He sits up, backing against the wall. "Jack?"
There's nothing there.
Or, at least nothing Jaime can see. Abby, however, is suddenly thrown from his bed to the floor, and she lays on the carpet still and unconscious. Jaime begins to panic. He turns to call out to his parents when the invisible entity grapples him by his collar and over its shoulder, jumping straight out the window with the screaming boy in tow.
"LET ME GO!" Jaime shrieks, beating his small fists against the assailant's back.
Blaze, unnoticed since no one's even heard of her before, huffs and a strand of crimson hair blows out of her face. "Annoying kid," she utters, starting her trek down the road. Reflexively she launches into the air and flips over an arrow that goes shooting by, its heart-shaped edge shattering against the SUV parked across the street from her. Blaze lands gracefully on her feet and wheels around.
Cupid, the slender man dressed in a leather vest and red-themed camouflaged pants, draws another arrow from his quiver and against his bow string. Bunnymund grinds his boomerangs together in obvious agitation. "Put the boy down," the humanoid rabbit seethes.
Blaze smirks. "Aw, only two of you? That's not fun."
'Bunny!" Jaime exclaims. He's promptly dropped on the loamy grass of his neighbor's yard and with a snap of Blaze's fingers a ring of fire erupts around him, boxing him in. The intensity of the heat keeps him locked in place, unmoving and downright petrified. "Bunny help me!"
"I'm coming Jaime!" Bunnymund calls back, promptly chucking his weapons at Blaze.
She ducks under the strikes then instinctively dodges the arrows that soar in her direction. "Gotta do better than that!" She snaps, unsheathing her knives. A sudden burst of icy energy impacts her side and sends her sailing in the van parked nearby. Unfazed, she recovers and jumps to her feet.
Jack Frost, Toothiana, the Sandman and North appear at the top of the house's roof across the street. Several other figures land on the adjacent roofs and close her in – she recognizes them all: Robin, Tyke Duggery, the nameless Leprechaun, Grimm and even Mother Nature. Cupid reloads his bow and his four, angelic wings unfold, spanning the street's width with majestic ease.
Blaze grins and her fists ignite with flames. "Pitch didn't tell me it would be this fun!"
She slams her hands into the pavement and pillars of fire erupt in all directions, forcing Cupid to take flight to better dodge the molten waves of fire sprouting upwards with all the intensity of volcanic eruptions. The spirits all scatter and Jack, North and
Tyke land near the ring of fire engulfing Jaime. "We'll get you out!" Jack remarks.
"Jack!" Jaime sobs, "Jack what's happening!? Please get me out! I'm scared!"
"We're working on it!" Jack faces Tyke. "Dig and try to find a water pipe or something to douse this fire!"
"On it." The anthropic Groundhog dives into the dirt and with incredible speed works his way into a network of tunnels underground.
North whips out his dual swords and spins them around on his wrists. "Stay here Jack," he orders, "protect Jaime." Jack silently complies and the elder Guardian rushes forward, slamming blades with Blaze who parries his blows with equal force.
She ducks under a swing then slashes upwards, leaving a massive tear in his shirt. A wall of fire sprouts up behind her to deflect Cupid's arrows and Robin's skillfully tossed javelin. The Leprechaun and Grimm appear above her and slam their respective massive, gold-encrusted hammer and shadow-fused ax downwards, but Blaze is quicker. Waves of heat explode outwards, sending North, Grimm, and the nameless spirit flying in multiple directions. North impacts a wall, Grimm and the Leprechaun the pavement. Cupid fires another arrow that skims Blaze's cheek, slicing into her skin, and she retaliates with a fireball.
A whip formed of dream sand ensnares her wrist, reeling her back. She uses the momentum to jump over the Sandman and exhales a stream of fire downwards. He ditches the whips for a shield that defends him like a dome.
Blaze screams when Robin's javelin strikes her back, just barely missing her spine. She reflexively tosses her knife in the direction of the closest spirit – which is Bunnymund – but Robin knocks it out of the air. She manages to fly up as another pulse of heat radiates outwards. Tooth speeds into the scene and spin-kicks the Summer Spirit in the torso, knocking her to the asphalt. A sudden pillar of fire erupts from beneath her, impacting the fairy's stomach with a direct hit.
Tooth smashes down into a nearby Mercedes a heap of scorched feathers and singed flesh… twitches once, settles complacently… and doesn't move again.
"I protect the children's memories, Jack. Without memories people would lose sight of who they really are."
There is a sudden silence that is louder than thunder and much, much more ominous.
"And if you don't mind my inquiries… what would the children do without you?"
"Well, since I am the last of my kind… the palace, the fairies, and the memories within would die. The teeth wouldn't be collected. The children would slowly forget who they used to be …and I won't be able to help them."
Jack's desolate scream is enough to shatter that stillness in the air.