-Brooklyn Heights- Boston's p.o.v****
The night sky was a show of lights and shadows, slicing and tearing through the other, firework-like streaks destroying the darkness bit by bit in a beautiful display of power, speed, and elegance. It was a shame no one could see it. Oh well, the mortals were the ones missing out.
I arched through the air, jumping almost to the cloudline and throwing my hands down in front of me, two streaks of thousands of tiny little lights arching parallel to each other, slamming down on the armies of nightmares charging towards me, sensing my disturbance in their numbers. I laughed out loud, letting out an excited shout as I fell back down, landing with one foot on the edge of a building and bringing one arm across my body diagonally, slamming into another, smaller wave of nightmares.
This was so easy it was almost pathetic. No, strike that, it was pathetic. But that didn't stop me from having massive amounts of fun in ripping through these things, the rush of the fight pulsating in my veins like a drug, like a sugar high on Halloween. I looked around during an abnormal lull in their numbers, arching my view across the block and into what appeared to be a normal-looking apartement complex.
But I knew better. I'd spent too much time around these nightmares to not know what they were thinking when they retracted from me. Following Pitch's orders, they wouldn't back down. Just regroup.
Another smile streaching my face, I jumped, shooting towards the complex where I was immediatly greeted with whinneys and the rushing sounds of a massive army, almost like soldiers charging into war on horseback like they used to. I liked it more back then, the sounds of the hooves, the bright explosions of guns and cannons. It mirrored my own war against the nightmares.
Once I reached a full-view of the army, I paused, taking it in. They were all on the ground, in numbers of hundreds, split only by buildings and otherwise hide-to-hide, rearing up and knocking eachother to the sides as they became restless, manes shaking and creating almost a wave-like effect, a sea of shadows during a wind storm. They expanded, ready to charge at something I didn't see, nor cared about.
I felt something growing inside me. I felt my heart begin to pound as I collected energy within me, drawing it in. Muscles tightened like strings on an instrument. My chest expanded as I took in a breath. My heart struggled to beat out the blood rushing through my veins, racing the adrenaling through, the sparks igniting on my skin. I felt a scream build up in my throat, eyes narrowed and mouth smiling as one of the nightmares looked up, catching sight of me.
In response, I shot a bullet of sparks down, erupting in front of their lines and causing the others to explode in sounds of shock and anger. And in only a second, they began to swarm towards me, just as I felt my energy reach its peak, its maximum power threatening to explode within me. I brought my arms in front of me, hands straight as, like carpets, massive sheets rolled out from the tips of my fingers, channeling all of my energy into them until they were hundreds of feet high, hundreds of feet long, dwarfing me in the sky.
It looked like I took layers of the sun and cut it into massive, unproportional sheets that glittered in the nightsky, seeing the darkness alight with a spectacular display of electricity, making up for the lack of sun in one, luminescent movement. I couldn't see past them, but I didn't care. Adrenaline and excitement blinded me, using all of my strength to pull my arms back, until they were to my sides. Like actual sheets, the squares moved painfully slowly, their massive size taking moments to pull backwards, their momentum creating a U like shape as they both flew past my hands the ends still attatched to my finger tips.
I felt myself begin to pant, but showed nor felt any other signs of exauhstion, aware of the massive energy I controlled at the moment. Once both sheets were straight behind me, flying in the air as if caught in a dimension between Earth and the sky, between the land and Manny, between heaven and hell, I controlled the most powerful substance in the world, right at my fingertips.
In a nostalgic moment, the hoards of nightmares roared up, just feet from me, before I let out a loud shout of energy, slamming my hands together and snapping both curtains down upon the army. A blinding light emitted, like a supernova in the sky, expanding the second the sheets touched and shooting out faster than you could blink, a white-light shooting from its center and decorating the night sky with a display so magnificent that it was a true tragedy that it was lost to mortal eyes.
My body seemed to release along with the light, feeling the tense, the tightness of the energy release and leaving me completely shaken and giddy, laughing as I slammed back to the ground, landing on my feet painlessly as, above me, a steady snowfall of black rained down, moving sluggishly before dissapearing in front of me like it did on the child's bed, as if it never really existed.
I managed to stop panting, flipping a lock of bright-yellow hair from my eyes as I whispered,
"Suck it, Manny."
"...Woah..." I heard a young voice behind me, and turned in mild surprise, raising an eyebrow as I located the owner. Behind me, coming out from an alley, stood the very last person I expected to be in Brooklyn during March. A young boy stood shakily, ice-blue eyes wide in wonder and shock, as if he'd just seen the most amazing thing of his life, unnaturally pale hands gripping a crooked brown staff. He wore a blue hoodie with frost on the chest and shoulders, other than that just old, ratty brown pants with no shoes, just a mop of pure white hair on his head.
I cocked a smile and walked closer to the newest Guardian, taking him in. I'd heard stories about him, from even before he became a Guardian. He was a trouble maker, shunned by the other spirits before his Guardianship made him a big thing, otherwise just a boy with a seriously cool atmosphere. He was the one who helped take down Pitch five years ago, and while I harbored ridiculous, unwarrented, and massive grudges and spite against all of the Guardians, for some reason I could never bring myself to fully hate this one.
What could I say? I was a sucker for a kid with a sense of humor and humility. As I got closer, I saw his body stiffen, getting an adorable, scared kind of look to him. He couldn't have been older than me when he died, and yet he still looked like such a child. Maybe that was another reason why I felt...almost neutral towards him.
"Hey there, Frosty. Enjoy the show?"I asked, shoving my hands in my pockets and grinning. He seemed lost for a second, as if not expecting me to actually talk and be some sort of illusion or something, until he managed to flick his eyes from where I'd just been to where I was, saying shakily,
"Wha?...Oh, no...well I mean...um..."He paused, before finally gulping and managing a small, nervous smile. "I-I'm Jack Frost." I laughed, shaking my head and saying calmly,
"I know who you are, kiddo. You're the big new guy who took down Pitch awhile ago, huh?"
"Actually, was group effort, but Jack was big help!"A thick, jolly Russian accent exclaimed, and I immediatly felt myself raise a skeptical eyebrow, smile tighter and more hostile than the one I'd given Jack, as the other Guardians appeared from the shadows behind their so-called 'leader'. Nicholas St. North, the Guardian of Wonder, waltzed out like I couldn't seriously injure him with a snap of my fingers.
He gave me a wide, hopeful smile, but I could see the trepidation behind it. Good. Be trepa..fied...something along those lines, just so long as he was scared.
"Funny, it really took all of you to defeat one guy that I took down all on my own? You guys are really slacking for Guardians."I mused calmly, seeing two Guardians beside North tense up. One of them was a strikingly innocent woman, with glossy green and purple feathers all over her body, a human face with two big, shiny purple eyes and transparent wings.
Toothiana. She'd avoided me her entire existance. The other one, though, I'd run into once. I raised an eyebrow as I spied the abnormally tall bunny, covered in blue fur on his back, indigo blue tribal markings along his body, white fur down his lean torso and under a boomerang sling. Two emerald green eyes glared at me as I walked closer, past a confused and shaky Jack.
Once I got to the large Pooka, hands still shoved into my pockets, I tilted my head to the side playfully and asked,
"E. Aster Bunnymund, you haven't changed a bit since I last saw you." His eyes grew even more narrow as he leaned down to me, an intensity in his glare that only he could give. It was agressive and hostile, almost like a more ferocious animal than a mere rabbit. More like a lion, or a cat.
"You two've met?"Jack's innocent voice asked, and my eyes widened a bit.
"You didn't tell 'em?"I asked, mock-offended.
"Tell 'em what?"He asked in a low, gruff, Australian accent that I found mildly appealing, "How ya almost destroyed an' entia' forest full a' Easta' eggs when ya decided ta play bloody target practice with the trees?!" I snickered at the memory, remembering a seething rabbit slamming into me before I threw him into a tree trunk.
To be honest, it was one of the more...peculiar memories I had. Usually, like with the Lepracaun and his gold or with Cupid and his arrows, I would accidentally mess with a spirit's element, and then, once they'd fully ranted to me, destroy what was left around me and leave them the mess to clean up. Not to hurt the children who believed in them, but just because I found it easy to aggrivate and hurt their elements when they were sending strings of insults and curses at me.
But that time, in the forest, was different. I didn't know why, and sometimes it did still bother me, but I felt almost...unable to hurt his element. Like something was holding me back from seeing the absolute helplessness and fury in his eyes when I destroyed all of those precious eggs. And, for a moment that I rarely admitted, I'd felt bad, in that moment, for the destruction I'd already caused.
It unnerved me, that moment, that the look he had about him as he glared at me, but also searched to make sure the eggs were safe for the kids, made me totally unwilling to have my usual fun in ruining a few more before roughing him up a bit and leaving. To be completely honest, I'd found myself unable to harm him, like my body was allergic to him as it was to metal.
But that was ridiculous, and I quickly dismissed it, having flown off right then and there and making a point to avoid him at all costs. And now here he was. With the other Guardians. And it suddenly dawned on me that one of them was missing.
A trail of sand fell in my perifrial vision, and I immediatly felt myself seethe. I spun quickly, making a startled Sandman jump back on his little cloud in fear, backing up as I let out an icy smile.
"Ah! Little Sandy's here too, huh? Well, this must be one big Guardian shin-dig, huh? Sorry to interrupt, just had to save a few children, you know?"As I said this, trails of sparks circled the Sandman, my utter contempt for this man apparent. He had been chosen when I wasn't good enough. Apparently, I couldn't measure up to his almighty 'kindness', 'gentleness', 'sweetness', 'peacefulness', blah, blah, blah. I'd heard it all before.
To be quite honest, I kept children save while he rode around all night and delivered dreams of dolphins and cats. And he was given all the credit.
"Anyways, I better be off. Don't think Manny would appreciate the real Guardian of Dreams to hang around his predecessor too long, huh?"I brought a hand out and snapped my fingers, the sparks darting once more around the man at an alarming speed before dissipating back into my skin, feeling their comfort and warmth.
"Actually, es what Manny wants exactly!"The Russian accent boomed, though this time far less confident. Let out a sharp laugh and turned, wondering if the big guy had finally lost it.
"Excuse me? So they let a senile old crackpot be a Guardian and not me? This is ridiculous, I'm out of here-"
"Oi, hold it sheila!"Bunny's voice came, paw on my arm as I turned to leave. The contact surprised me enough to keep me grounded, his soft paw firm on my elbow. It was an odd feeling, being actually touched without an intent of harm behind it...at least, none that I could sense. The only person who'd ever touched me without meaning to seriously injure me was Pitch, but his touch was much different from this one.
The one was earnest and commanding, but strangely comftorble coming from Bunnymund, sending an odd, tense feeling up to my shoulderblade. I finally snapped out of it and yanked my arm from him a bit more venomously than I intended, his eyes going wide for a moment before North interrupted.
"Es true! There es serious problem, problem that could endanger all children of de world!"He exclaimed theatrically. I crossed my arms, half to show my apathy and also to keep them close to me and away from Bunny, rolling my eyes and musing,
"Pitch is back." They all tensed, eyes wide as Jack cut in,
"You know?!"
Damn, they really didn't know a lot about me, did they? Not that Pitch and I had made our...connection, apparent. Hell, most of them were just beginning to be Guardians by the time it ended!
"I know a hell of a lot more about Pitch than you think."I mused sneakily, earning a rather suspicious look from Bunny that burned into me as I focused on the others, Sandy moving a bit behind Jack. "Anyway, what does it have to do with me?"I prodded on, wondering what the old windbag was getting at.
Tooth, a big jittery with her hands clasped together and knees up to her chest, said quietly,
"Well...you see...um..." I raised an eyebrow, wondering if she were having some kind of stroke or something. Luckily, Bunny cut in for her.
"Manny thinks we need ya help."...
...
...
.
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!"I burst out laughing, jumping in the air just a bit so that I could turn head-over-heels, arms wrapped around my stomach as it convulsed, tears coming to my eyes. Whoever thought up this joke was an absolute genius and deserved some kind of award for making me laugh harder than I had since I'd scared the spirit of Halloween so much that he tripped and became a pile of bones, taking an hour to put himself back together.
"Wh-who th-thought up th-that one?!"I exclaimed, finally getting to my feet, arms still wrapped around my aching abs. They all gave each other nervous looks, Bunny just glaring like he always did. Honestly, I didn't think he had any other facial expression.
"Um, we're serious. The Man in the Moon told us that we needed your help to stop Pitch once and for all, so that he could never pose a threat to children...ever again..."Tooth managed out, and I paused for a moment. I could feel the moonbeams hit me, shining over the city, almost watching me expectantly.
And a bit of anger rose up in my chest. I turned to her, making her shrink back a bit, as I spat out,
"No, sorry. Got better things to do with my time than help a bunch of idiots with a problem they should have solved back in the Dark Ages."
"Oi!"Bunny shouted, offended, my glare locking with his for a moment, "Listen here, ya bloody show pony," What did he just call me? Did he just in all seriousness call me a 'show pony'? "We don' like askin' fer some crook spirit with Manny issues! I trust ya about as much as ya trust us, but it's Manny's orders-"
"I don't follow Manny's orders, mate,"I spat with as much venom as I could muster, glare searing holes in his eyes as I continued, "If Pitch is back, what's it any issue of mine? If you all are as big and strong as Manny clearly thought you were, then you don't need my help." At this point, our faces were mere inches apart, both of us seething as an anger gripped me so tightly that I felt sparks jumping from my body, swirrling around me as I cursed both the Guardians and Manny.
He thinks that he can just tear my title from me, throw me into a world with no purpose, completely confused as to why I wasn't good enough for him, let me wander for thousands of years, and then expect me to just jump at his command and help this band of idiots to defeat a man who I hated with all of my heart and also fell for everytime he so much as touched me?!
Well Manny could go to hell for all I cared for. I stopped obeying him a long, long time ago.
"I afraid of this."North sighed. About to cause a major scene, I spun towards him and shouted,
"You're damn righ-MOTHER FU-" I was cut off, a massive, multi-colored portal opening up right in my face, feeling a harsh shove from behind me as I was thrown forward into the swirrling hole, closing my eyes as everything began to swirrel around me.
The disorientation ended quickly, though, as I came into contact with a tiled floor, rolling awkwardly out until I got a foot under me, standing quickly and looking around, furious and confused. I stood on an overlook, a massive, hundred-foot tall and wide globe ahead of me with various lights flickering all over it, a loud and excited workshop beneath me. Curioisty won out over anger, and I walked slowly to the golden railing, being careful not to touch the metal-looking contraption and looking over to see hundreds of workbenches, each filled with various toys in various stages of assembly.
Massive, white yetis were working away at a feverish pace, barely foot-tall elves scurrying about and causing havoc amoung the toys and yetis. The air reaked of pepermint and sawdust, everything a shade of red, green, or gold, everything incredibly ornate and put together in a nostalgic kind of way. Above the globe was a hole, almost a sun-roof where Manny shone down, though it was day wherever I'd been taken.
I let myself get taken away for just a moment, a small, almost familiar feeling of lightness, of happiness swarming around in my head, from the days...before...
"Welcome to workshop! I see you admire yetis work, yes, with Christmas coming up es veeery busy time for-" I spun around and grabbed a fist-full of his beard, yanking him down to my face-level as the others hopped out of the portal, eyes wide as I got my face close to the crazy Russians. His face fell a bit as I seethed, annoyance and anger making sparks around me blossom.
"Send. Me. Back."I spat in warning, North's face immediatly winking and shaking a finger at me.
"Ah, cannot do."He said calmly, and I yanked harder on the beard.
"What do you mean 'cannot do'?! You better damn well get me out of here or you'll figure out how that Fall spirit feels right about now."I saw a flash of fear in the others for a moment, but something was infuriatingly calm and mischevious about North's rosy face.
"You do not know way back, yes? Well, I do! And if you want to be taken back, you must hear us out first."He said, and I grit my teeth, trying to maintain a relatively under-control demeanor, though my anger-managment issues were acting up big time.
I hate the Guardians. They were asking for my help. I despised Manny. He was commanding them to get my help. I hated Pitch. They wanted me to fight against him. I loved Pitch. I had to fight against him. I just wanted to go to Boston. I was stuck in the North effin' Pole with no way to get back.
I hate my life.
In frustration, and hoping that I could get back to my normal routine as soon as possible, I shoved North away, only to hold out my palm and sent a massive flame of sparks into a controlled substance on my palm, the sparks cracking and exploding menacingly and making the others step back, Bunnymund going for his boomerangs. North, still standing calmly, watched me as I glared, begrudgingly saying,
"I'll listen. And then you send me back."
"Unless you agree to help."North added, and I scoffed, snapping my palm shut and extinguishing the sparks.
"Fat chance, fat man."I spat, but he didn't seem to hear me, instead manhandling me by grabbing me around the waist and throwing me over his shoulder, me shouting out in refusal while I caught a light, almost..pleasent sounding chuckle below me. I looked down, seeing an amused Bunnymund looking up at me.
I frowned and pointed to him, shooting out a spark that hit him right in the nose. He jumped back, and it was my turn to laugh at him, before looking over my shoulder as we walked down a hall.
I'd started today by causing a poweroutage in Texas. I was ending it being held captive by the very people I hated more than anything, being asked to do something I knew, from the moment North had made the deal with me, that I would refuse.
I would not help them defeat Pitch. I would get out of there after listening to their redundant and ridiculous points that I'll roll my eyes at and in the end I'll refuse and they'll have a choice to either take me back or get lit up like a Christmas tree. And then I'd go after Pitch, and I'd end it all, on my own, like it was meant to be...
Oh, if only things were that simple.
