...Or In which Pitch's Voice, 'Nuff Said
Jack watches as if hypnotized as Sandman leisurely tosses the ball in the air and catches it once before chucking it at the frost child. More from reflex than any conscious thought, Jack brings up his staff, an impromptu bat, and takes a swing at the speeding ball...
And it turns out dreamsand is surprisingly bouncy. Jack ducks as the ball rebounds off the window just above Sandy's head and it just barely misses brushing Jack's hair before it hits something behind him.
A Yeti, Jack finds out as it collapses, asleep, on him. The child of frost tries with all his might to push the creature off, but it dwarfs Jack in both size and weight. Jack's staff, knocked from his hand from the impact, lies just out of reach, and Jack doesn't know what to do because the Sandman is floating right next to him and he can hear Bunny's hopping stride and Tooth's buzzing wings and the window is right there!
Now Jack realizes that he's having trouble breathing. The Yeti's too heavy and it's crushing him, and he can't move, and they're coming, and he can't breathe, and for once (once again and always) he wishes he can talk so he could ask for help, and the exit's right there!
The weight on him lessens, and then is removed entirely, and Jack scrabbles for his staff as St. North grunts, setting down the huge mass of fur. In the space of three gulped breaths, Jack is trapped again, Bunny to his left, Tooth to his right, St. North in front and Sandman blocking the window. No, Jack won't let himself be caught again! There must be a way out. Everyone is keeping their distance, but it's probably more from the threatening nature of Jack's crackling staff than any respect for his wishes. Jack isn't hoping that he might find some miraculous escape (Jack has learned how pointless hope is) but he suspects he's missing something. Something important.
If only hot air wasn't blowing down on him, then he'd be able to think better.
Jack tenses as the thought occurs to him. He remembers something vaguely about this, about how humans cut holes in their walls that somehow project hot air. Jack remembers because suddenly, with a warm place to go home to, families found winter far less scary and considerably more fun. Jack found many now playmates (even if they didn't know they were playing with him) that year.
But that is beside the point. St. North has one of these Heat-er things, and that means a hole is directly above Jack. If only he could destroy the covering and climb up it fast enough, but he doesn't think that's possible, not with how close everyone is; not unless some sudden distraction were to occur, and Jack knows better than to hope.
Yet, despite his lack of hope, his miraculous distraction comes in the form of Tooth collapsing to the floor muttering about her, "fairies," and though Jack doesn't get what the problem is, he knows this is his only chance as everyone (sans the Sandman who is still guarding the window, but looking her way worriedly) crowds their fallen accomplice. Jack takes the opportunity to blast open the grill above him and hop into the small opening. He hears Bunny shout after him, but he isn't worried.
The passageway is small, and if Jack was of even a slightly larger build he'd never be able to fit, so he's confident that no one will be able to follow him. The thought makes him feel more calm than he has all day, and he wishes he could stay in the crawlspace for just for a bit longer, but It's hot here, so Jack knows he needs to get moving quickly.
Thus, awkwardly dragging his staff along, Jack manages a hobbling crawl deeper into the shaft. It's dark, but the occasional grate allows in little slips of light. The first few times he checks, the grates all lead to rooms with at least one occupant, so he moves on getting ever warmer until, finally, the fifth grate opens into an empty room.
He kicks it out before falling down, landing in an ungraceful heap on the floor. He cut that close, the heat was beginning to get disorienting. Warmth wouldn't kill him, he knew from experience, but it would drain him of energy until he could no longer move, left to wait for a cool draft to come in or the Wind to sweep him away, and Jack doesn't think he wants to be trapped in a Heat-er forever.
...Jack has been not-wanting a lot today. He wonders if perhaps that is just as bad as wanting, or if it is more like wanting-naught.
Jack doesn't get the chance to ponder as the door to his room begins to open. He frantically looks around for a place to hide, but the room is nearly barren, save for a couple closed crates, small bales of hay, and a line of chutes attached to the wall. Wasting no time, Jack throws his staff in and promptly hops down one of the several openings and finds himself on a near vertical slide down, down, down into darkness.
Until a dim flash of light appears in the distance, quickly growing until Jack suddenly finds himself out of the tunnel and in a considerably larger heap of hay. All around him are empty corrals made of a dark, reinforced wood. In front of him is a large mass. It's hard to see in the dim lighting, but he thinks it might be St. North's famous sleigh. Jack ducks his head back into the bale just as a near frantic Yeti grumbles and marches up to the magical apparatus.
Horror dawns on Jack when he realizes his staff is nowhere in sight. Hay-strewn head popping up, Jack notices an out-of-place, lanky shadow seemingly attached to the back of the sleigh, and he knows instinctively that that is it. Taking a cautious glance to make sure no one can see him, Jack creeps up to his object, and gives the staff a tug, only to find it won't come apart. Jack wonders - not for the first time - if he'd at some point incurred some wrath of Fate or one of the human's divine beings because the knob of Jack's staff has somehow wedged itself into a decorative hole and the crook has threaded itself into the design on the sleigh's backboard.
Jack tugs on the staff again, and as if that is the trigger, large doors on the opposite end of the room open. The sleigh jerks forward, tugging Jack along with it.
He isn't sure what's going on until he hears Bunny's uncertain voice, "Uh, I think my tunnels might be faster, mate. And safer,"
With all due haste, Jack presses himself against the back of the vehicle, desiring with all of his being the he won't be caught (as they seem to have not noticed him yet) but not willing to part with his staff.
"Ha ha, get in, and buckle up," Jack hears St. North exclaim, and the sleigh begins to shift forward, quickly gaining speed. Jack can hear the Yeti from earlier gibbering in his language, and though Jack has no idea what he's saying, the tone of voice is worrying, to say the least. The panicked garbled stops, replaced with shock, as it notices the sleigh's unwilling hitch-hiker. Jack quickly pulls up his hood to avoid the gaze.
"Woah, woah, where are the bloody seat-belts?" Bunny asks, panic coloring his voice.
"Hah! Was just expression!"
Jack doesn't pay attention to the rest of the conversation as suddenly he's gripping his staff with both hands and sliding along ice-slick floors in adrenaline-inducing speeds. The sleigh shifts to avoid oncoming stalagmites and suddenly Jack is up-side-down, feet trying to maintain their contact with the slick roof.
"I hope you like the loop-de-loops!" Jack manages to hear over the wind and the sound of laughing. Who's laughing? He doesn't recognize the voice, yet it sounds so familiar. Is someone else on the sleigh? Jack doesn't think so, only St. North, Bunny, possibly Sandman and Tooth and...
The jubilant noise abruptly stops as Jack realizes it's his laugh. Something he hasn't heard in over a century; something he thought he'd never hear again. Has his voice come back to him? He gives an experimental shout.
But nothing comes out. It's gone again, left with the cave as they all take to the air (the Wind, finally reunited with its frost child, asking what kind of game Jack is playing) and Jack forces down the disappointment because it's not as if he really wants his voice or something ridiculous like that. In his concentration, Jack barely notices the gut-wrenching feeling of going through a portal.
He does, however, notices the sudden and extreme rise in temperature. He can't see much (most of his view being dominated by the red of the magical carriage in front of him) but what he does see is enough to let him know he's never been here before, and that this place is in chaos; everywhere black steeds are chasing little, flying specks of green. The sleigh is jostled as they crash into one of the many spires that compose the palace (because surely there is no other way to describe this structure) and the impact causes Jack's staff to come loose, allowing him freedom. Finally.
Except, Jack remembers just as he finishes freeing his staff and starts to fall, his Wind didn't go through the portal with them and probably has no idea where Jack is right now. It'll find him soon enough, but until then...
Lips part in a silent, unnoticed scream as gravity finally gets its revenge on Jack for defying it all these centuries. He will fall, and it will hurt, and whether not-wanting is bad or not, Jack doesn't want to be in pain. Jack lands much earlier than he expects, hurts much less than he thought, and the thing that caught him whinnies angrily.
Fumbling for his breath and a better position, Jack finds himself sitting on one of the many black horses flying throughout the sky, and his newfound proximity allows him to see details that he didn't notice before. Like, how its ribcage is an actual cage. With something in it.
The mare bucks, trying to send Jack off, but the Wind plays much rougher, so Jack doesn't have to concentrate very hard to hang on. Instead he focusses his attention on the little fairy buzzing frantically in the cage. It reminds him of Tooth, with the green feathers and faintly humanoid body, but much smaller. Like a baby, a little Baby Tooth.
She stops her frantic search for an escape and stares at Jack with wide, scared, extremely hopeful eyes, and an electric current runs through him. Nobody, no one has ever looked at him with hope. Yet Jack knows just how pointless hope is, and Jack knows that he is not a prince come to save the damsel because he has nothing to do with fairytales. So, logically, he can't possibly help her.
Despite that, he also knows that babies do not belong in cages; they belong in their mother's arms - loved and cherished. So, despite the improbability of it all, Jack thinks he can maybe - just once - take part in this fairytale and save her.
The horse rears up just as Jack slams his hand on its spine and shatters it with the bite of ice. The rest of the mare collapses into dust while he cups the little, grateful-looking (grateful? To him?) Baby Tooth gently in his hands. Though, now he is free-falling yet again. Jack stares at the quickly approaching ground in resignation. The fall won't kill him, he knows from experience, but it will probably leave him incapacitated for a while, and continual exposure to the heat here will leave him stranded for much longer.
Little Baby Tooth chirps at him frantically, and he considers letting her go, but no: there are more of those black horse things flying around and he won't risk her getting caught again.
He's close enough to count the pebbles when the wind finally finds him and sweeps him into its embrace. Baby Tooth squeaks weekly in relief (even though Jack knows he would have taken the total impact - babies are fragile after all) and even Jack feels a little light-headed from his near brush with, not death - nothing so pleasant as death - but immense pain.
(Are we playing hide-and-seek, frost child? You are very good at it today) The wind asks him. Jack doesn't have time to answer it as more of those horses are coming after him - whether to get the fairy in his hand to get revenge for their fallen comrade he does not know.
The wind doesn't care that he hasn't answered though because it is simply glad to once again be able carry its frost child after all the time they were apart and it was enjoying this little game of tag they were playing and Jack wouldn't believe all the rumors and laughs and frustrated screams it has picked up while the frost child was gone!
Jack swings his staff again, shattering the last of the beasts chasing after him. None of their cages held anymore fairies; those ones had already left. (and when one human slapped the other, the sound was singular!) All the mares were leaving, as if on command. Admittedly curious about this palace, and intending to return his temporary charge to her rightful family, Jack heads toward the quartet's general direction. (And Easter Bunny has a long running unpleasant history with kangaroos. They are, apparently his worst nemesis, how bizarre even for you emotional creatures!) Jack heads forward, only half listening to the Wind, knowing it wouldn't stop its monologue until it had told him everything it heard, and the Wind hears a lot in mere minutes.
Jack arrives, except there's a fifth person there - all black and grey like the horses - and Jack doesn't want to interrupt their conversation, so he lands a ways away, on a lower perch, and puts Baby Tooth in his pocket (because Jack is as cold as winter and he knows that winter chill can kill).
(So Nature continues to mourn for her-)
"And who is this?" A smooth, dark voice sounds behind Jack, leaving even the Wind silent in its wake.
"Frostbite? When did 'e get 'ere?" Bunny asks incredulously from behind, as Jack stares at the robe-covered shoes of the black-robed man before him.
"I remember you, Frost child, such delicious fear you had - still have," Did this man just silence the Wind? "but what are you doing here?" This man silenced the Wind! "Surely you're not working with the Guardians now?" How dare this man silence Jack's only friend, "After all your dashed hopes and dreams?" the Wind was the only one who spoke to Jack, and for him when he no longer could! " And don't forget: you and I both know just how incredibly useless you-"
The man is interrupted by a snowball to the face, and the slow dripping of melting snow echoes in the unnatural silence that follows. Jack glares into the shocked face of the man who had no right to do what he did - silencing the Wind! - pulling his arm back to his side.
The man, slowly, disbelievingly wipes the snow off his head and shoulders before shooting Jack a look of fury, " You've thrown your lot in with them? Fine, but don't come begging as you fade out of existence,"
Jack's anger is momentarily forgotten as he stares at the man in confusion. All around him, the structure begins to quake and dissolve, but he barely notices while he grasps the meaning behind that statement.
"What? You mean they didn't tell you?" The man of grey fades into a shadow and reappears several yards above everyone, "Being a guardian is great," He yells, unnecessarily loud, in Jack's still angered opinion, "but there's a catch. When enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect - wonder, hopes, and dreams - it all goes away, and little-by-little so do they," The man disappears for good, leaving Jack to contemplate his parting words. Jack can die? Simply by joining these people, Jack can finally, truly die? It almost sounds too good to be true.
"Y-you threw a snowball. At Pitch Black!" Bunny exclaims from right behind Jack, jerking him out of his musings. Jack spins to stare at the rabbit. Why did he sound so shocked? The man - Pitch Black - had no right to go on talking after he so unashamedly muted the Wind.
Wind!
Jack silently begs for the Wind to speak up, hoping whatever the man did wasn't permanent. For a minute all was silent and Jack barely notices the confused look on Bunny's face as he continues the ultimately useless task of looking for the un-body of his friend.
Then suddenly the Wind is howling all around him.
(THAT VOICE! I could listen to that voice for all eternity!)
Jack smiles slightly as the wind twirls about him excitedly going on about the voice which it has apparently fallen in love with at first sound, or as "in love" as an entity such as the Wind is able.
A violent tremor runs through the building and St. North shouts above the gale, "Ve need to get to safer ground!"
"Right!" Bunny responds. He then turns to Jack and yells, "Frostbite! Turn off your bloody wind!"
Jack scowls and throws a snowball at the rabbit as well because people need to stop being rude about his friend - the Wind is not some object to be switched on and off - but he also requests that the Wind calm down if only to slow the destruction of this palace. It obliges, but not without the occasional gust of a sigh.
"Wh-what was that for?" Bunny sputters indignantly. Jack just scowls back.
Then he realizes he's looking at Bunny's face.
Horrified, Jack's gaze darts back to its rightful spot on the ground and he pulls up his hood, hopping away from Bunny and following St. North at a safe distance. He can't believe he let himself do something so dangerous. He needs to be more careful from now on.
(Okay, The Wind is officially a character. And the Wind talks... a lot. All the time, in fact, unless otherwise mentioned. Jack usually just tunes it out so it's generally not mentioned in the story unless something happens, such as in this chapter.)
