Shout-outs:
Darkblade County: And as always, you're the first to review! :D Ooh, ever had a cookie with an oreo baked into it but not crushed? They're amazing!
Ocracoke0Island-Dreams: I'm so glad you like. It's good to see readers come back and hear they were inspired to do their own versions/fics!
VividRegulator: Devotion, an ongoing brain, and no sleep... I'm exhausted, but oh well!
lovepuppy316: Oh, have fun beating up Bunny. Don't worry, I'll make him feel horrible in the next few chapters *evil grin*
AlexJohnD: YEP took me long enough! Glad you liked the quote. I'm going to try to have one for each chapter.
Thank you for those who are following or have reviewed. I appreciate it. Now, onto Chapter 2!:
Believed In, Feared In
Jack had flown off without a word, but the Pooka saw the hope within the boy crumble in merely seconds. Only seconds. It took only seconds for everything in that boy to shatter like glass, and he caused it. Bunny broke him with one action, shriveling the boy's hope into nothing.
He destroyed hope. How ironic, for he was the guardian of hope.
A part of him screamed at him, scolded him for being so cruel to the boy, while another part told him that the boy deserved it for ruining Easter. It was his fault. He wasn't there when the guardians needed him. He was the only who could truly fight Pitch. He was their greatest weapon at stopping Pitch Black. But where was he?
He'd been with Pitch, their enemy. Jack went to their enemy to get his damned toothbox when the guardians had already promised to get it for him after the threat of Pitch was over, and what did he do? He went to Pitch's hideout, and got his toothbox.
And where was the little fairy he called Baby Tooth? He probably traded her for his teeth.
He deserved what he got...
No, no he didn't. Nobody deserves to have their hope shattered like that. Even if he did meet up with Pitch, something drew him to the dark man. He was desperate. Bunny knew now that the kid had no memories of where he came from, only that he woke up one night on a lake looking up at the Moon and with no one there to show him how to control his power.
He'd always been alone. And now- now he was alone once more because of Bunny.
He had to fix it. He had to, for Jack, for the other guardians, for the children... For himself.
He had to make things right.
./../\..\.
The tooth canister held sweet nothings, curses disguised as promises. He hated it, but couldn't fully reject the temptation. It truly was a deadly thing.
Now as he stared at it, he wanted nothing more than to throw it across the edge of the cliff into the depths of the ocean to never be seen again. But he wanted to open it, to see who he was before that night on the lake where so much pain and sorrow started his life. He wanted to know more, and yet he's disgusted with the idea of using it when it only hurts him and others around him.
A curse, it was.
"I thought this might happen."
Jack knew that voice. He'd know that voice from anywhere for all the pain it'd caused. It took Baby Tooth, made the guardians distrust him. He was the reason Jack was there.
"I was just trying to show you what was unavoidable."
In a flash, Jack twist ninety degrees while sending a blue magic from his staff towards his target, but a wave of black sand made a wall between Jack's target and his magic. The ice froze the sand, but didn't go through the wave.
"Nah-ah," said the man as the wave well, revealing the man behind him. His grey skin and black hair and clothes made him stand out from all of the white. But what caught Jack's eyes was the man's golden cat eyes. "Would you really treat me like the guardians treated you?" The boy visibly flinched. "That'd make you know better than them, you know."
His grip on his staff tightened even more. Pitch had done so much... But he had a point. Would he be no better than the guardians if he didn't give Pitch a chance to speak. He hadn't attacked him yet, only blocked Jack's shot. He was here to negotiate, not fight...
If he really was there to only speak to him, then why would Jack attack him? That'd make him no better than Bunnymund.
No, he would never be like that Pooka.
He lowered his staff, his grip never ceasing.
Pitch held his grin back. "At least your not as cruel and hard-headed as that so called guardian rabbit. You at least let me talk instead of punching me before I get a chance to explain myself."
Jack flinched at the words. "How did you-"
"I, for one thing, care what happens to others unlike those so called guardians. Earlier, I was just trying to ward you off before you got hurt, but I can see I failed."
Jack's eyes cast down to his feet. Every Pitch'd said in his underground home was true. Everything. He was right about his fears, he was right about the guardians never believing him, never trusting him. Pitch was just telling him what would happen, but Jack didn't listen and was hurt more emotionally and physically he'd ever thought possible.
The man in black stepped forward. Placing a hand on the boy's back, he guided him away from the cliff. "Tell me, Jack, what do you see," he asked, staring into the vast white.
White and no color. There were no greens or blues or reds or yellows. There were no plants poking through the snow. There where no critters scrounging for food. There was nothing but white.
"Do you see how different you are compared to the others? You don't have life surrounding you. The only colors you know are white, grey, and black... How cold."
"What do you know?" he blurted out, stepping away from the man and raising his staff once more. "You don't know what I've gone through, so don't act like you do."
"But Jack," he said while holding his palms outward in surrender, "I do. You see, I too know what it feels like to have no one, to long for someone but to always be shoved aside by others. Like you, I'm not surrounded by life or color, and I was never given the chance."
Never having a chance? That is dooming someone to darkness without a reason. If Pitch was never given a chance, then it's no wonder he was where he was now- an enemy with no one to care for what happens to him. Was Jack the same way? Was he really given a chance? Maybe, although, the guardians only dealt with him so they could use him as a tool. They never cared... Nobody cared about Jack Frost.
"I was alone, and I could never get close to anyone. You and I, we are so much alike, it's incredible."
Alike? Now that Jack thought about it, it was true.
"For a long time, Jack Frost, I thought nobody knew the loneliness I felt or longed for a family like I do. But you- you know the pain I've felt, don't you?" Pitch stared with yellow cat eyes at icy blue. Jack couldn't read the man's expression. Pain? Sorrow? Or, is it all a trick? Is this just for show to get what he wants?
The golden eyes seemed to plead him desperately. Maybe, it wasn't a trick.
The raven-haired man sighed deeply and stepped back around to look out towards the Antarctic Ocean from the cliff with hands clasped behind him. "Have you ever thought of changing that- changing from being alone?" He turned to look at Jack. "Are you as sick as I am of being alone, of having no one believing you? Do you wished to be seen as much as I have?"
"...Yes," he whispered. He was sick of being alone. He was sick of believing he'd forever be alone like those first three hundred years. He was afraid he'd never know why he'd forever be alone. Why could no normal humans see him? Why did even the spirits who could see him not show him who he was, how to control his powers, to simply be his friend?
"I've had an idea, a way to get believers. You and I are sick of being pushed around by other spirits and not being acknowledged by the people of this Earth. You may wonder why I've done what I have. In truth, it is because I want to be seen, just like you." He stepped closer to Jack. "Tell me, is it better to be feared than to not exist at all?"
Jack was shocked. It wasn't what he was expecting.
Is it better to be feared?
It was a question of being human. Is it better to be hated or to have lived? Is it better to not be wanted or to not even exist to be hated or loved? Would he rather be feared but respected rather than be seen as a waist of space, to be nothing more than the dirt beneath their feet?
No he wanted more than that. He want to be surrounded by people, people who could see him, see his tears, hear his crying, hold him when all is hope was lost.
Hope. What a lie, it was. Hope didn't get him anywhere. It only made me expect something that never came. He hoped the guardians would accept him as an equal or at least as something more than a nuisance, but look where he is now. He was wallowing on the continent of Antarctica debating whether or not to throw his teeth over the cliff to never be found again or to make the guardians even more angry with him, if that was possible. He was after all, talking to their worst enemy.
"Jack, you don't have to be alone. I believe in you, and I know the children will, too, but the guardians aren't going to allow that."
I believe in you.
I believe you.
I believe.
Believe.
He... Pitch Black, his enemy, believed in him?
"The guardians are power hungry." The dark man balled his fist, his eyebrows knitted together. "They want to be on top and use others for their own use. I've seen them use dozens of other spirits and throw them away after they fulfilled their plan, and I'm sick of it. They're trying the same thing with you, using you, but why give them what they want? Why not make them feel the pain they've caused?"
Pitch stepped closer once more and held his hand out towards the frost boy. "Don't you want to finally be on the other side of the results, to finally be on top?"
Jack stared down at the hand held out to him. He knew what Pitch was asking. He knew taking his hand would mean no turning back. It meant leaving all that he ever knew. But was that really a bad thing? That meant deserting the solitude he'd known for so long. He would be cutting off any ties with the guardians.
Where were they now? Did they care that he left, or did they just go back to North's place to plan how to take care of Pitch, the man in front of him? Did they ever care? They certainly didn't mind letting him go. Bunnymund didn't mind striking him.
No, they didn't care about him.
They never did.
He slowly, but surely, lifted his own right arm, extending it towards his once enemy, until he heard the shout of his name coming from the distance.
"Jack," a female shouted... Tooth?
The winter spirit's eyes turned to see the green object in the sky becoming more define as it got closer. Tooth, the Tooth Fairy who had an attraction for his teeth, nothing more.
He saw her stop her flight, gasping loudly. She must've now identified Pitch, her enemy. She probably realized what was happening. She wouldn't trust Jack anymore. They would come after him, even if he refused Pitch now. They'd see him as a threat, as a traitor.
It was now or never, he knew. And with that, he took Pitch's hand, a symbol of trust, honesty, partnership.
"Welcome to a new beginning," Pitch grinned as shadows encased them in darkness.
./../\..\.
"Sad how the same people who say they care about you are the same ones who tear you down when they get the chance."
-Nishan Panwar
./../\..\.
As always, I'd love to hear any of your thoughts. Do you like what's here so far? Anything you think needs to be added? Please! I just want to hear your voices!
Anyhow, next chapter will be posted on May 25th. If I get over 10 reviews, I'll post on the 23rd.
Also, go check out an art piece I did on my deviantart page of a swallow. My username on the website is Janazza. PLEASE CHECK IT OUT AND PLEASE REVIEW!