Chapter Three: The Coward's Way Out
For a long time, Toothiana sits in front of Jack's restrained body while the other Guardians discuss their next course of action: dealing with Jack, should speaking with him prove futile. From what she can hear, Bunnymund wants them to just tie up Jack and leave him somewhere hot and dry, so that he isn't able to get a good grip on his powers and come after them again. North disagrees. He thinks his yetis will be able to restrain Jack for the remainder of their conflict with Pitch, given that Jack's never been able to get past them before, when he'd been trying to break into North's Workshop.
Part of Tooth wants to join the conversation. She doesn't need to be here, standing guard over an unconscious boy. North is right in that the yetis are more than capable of handling him, even without the rope. But she can't bear to leave his side. Not when he's suffering like this.
She can tell he's in pain by the way he fought them so … so … so savagely. He used a good number of dirty moves in their battle, freezing North's feet to the ground and using the precious grass of the Warren against Bunnymund, and that isn't like him at all. It doesn't make sense, for him to fight like that unless he's getting desperate.
But knowing that he's struggling right now, though she does not know what, makes Tooth remain put. She agrees with North, and should Bunnymund win she will fight that decision. The last thing Jack needs right now is isolation and a feeling of being abandoned.
Jack groans suddenly, and the debate going on in the other room silences. Tooth doesn't even notice; her eyes light up as Jack, though still only half-conscious, tries to pry away from the yetis' grasp. He's all right, he's all right!
Though she hadn't said anything, Tooth had worried beyond belief that Jack was injured beyond repair from the rock she hit him with. To discover that he hadn't been so severely injured is music to her ears – or, perhaps, teeth to her eyes.
"Let me go!" Jack all but orders, and without any sort of warning his effort suddenly increases, kicking at the yetis who are holding him back. "Can't you hear me?! I said—"
He then catches sight of Tooth, and he stops, staring at her for a moment. She can feel her cheeks heat up and, unable to find the words to express her regret, she looks away. What could she say? She injured him, and she wouldn't be surprised if Jack decides to give her the same loathing stare he gives North and Bunnymund.
She hears sound of the door opening and closing behind her, and the other two are at her side in a moment. Bunnymund is the first to speak – he chuckles and shakes his head, as if Jack's sorry state amused him. "Sorry 'bout tying your hands like that, frostbite. It's just, y'know. Safety first and all that."
Jack seethes, his beautiful teeth baring at Bunnymund, and Tooth in particular notices that he's displaying his canines. Why? Was Bunnymund truly that much of a threat to him?
"Tell them to let me go," Jack demands, anger and fear seeping its way into his voice. "I can't do much if my hands are tied and you've taken my staff, can I?"
"Ah, I would not be so sure," North answers, crossing his arms over his chest. "You are stronger than you look, Jack Frost, and more cunning than Bunny gives you credit for. I will not take chance."
Jack scowls and looks away now, and Tooth can see him shaking. Her eyes soften, and she flutters forward. "Tooth—" She hushes Bunnymund by holding up a single hand, palm toward him. Though she's not looking at him, she can almost hear his ears flatten against his head.
Very gently, she lifts Jack's chin up so that he meets her eyes. Truth be told, she's not all that surprised to see the tears in his eyes. He's in pain…
"Jack," she says with all the serenity of a mother, "this isn't like you. Tell us how we can help you right now."
His eyes widen, his jaw drops. It's as if he hadn't expected us to want to help him, Tooth notes, and the observation hurts her. Why…? After everything, why would Jack believe they wouldn't be willing to help him through his hardships?
"…It isn't like me," Jack repeats after a beat of silence, and then he grins. It's the kind of grin that Tooth never wanted to see on his face—angry, sad, and above all, hopeless. His eyes begin to shift, though she can't tell to what – they're changing, and it's malevolent. "Right. Because you'd know what's like me and what isn't, wouldn't you?"
"We know you well enough to know that you're good person," North says, his brows furrowed in confusion. He's picked up on the change in Jack's tone, as well. "We do not know why you side with man like Pitch."
"You said it yourselves," Jack replies – though he hasn't turned his eyes from the fairy in front of him. "Remember, when I was dragged into here to become a Guardian against my will? I'd make a terrible Guardian, because there's not a single child that believes in me.
"But if I'm with Pitch, it's totally different!" He laughs now, and it sends chills up everyone's spines. "Now I know that he and I are invincible! Together cold and dark and fear will rule the land – and they can't be afraid of something they don't believe in, now, can they? They'll have to believe in me!"
As he rants, Bunnymund begins to inch closer. Tooth has dropped her hand from Jack's chin, stunned, but Jack doesn't even seem to notice. He keeps going, on and on, in a state of hysteria, "…and that's more of a future than any of you have ever offered me! What made any of you think that I'd…"
Bunnymund knocks Jack upside the head. The hit is light, especially for the Pookah, but Jack almost collapses – only the yetis keep him upright. But that's not what catches Bunnymund's interest, nor is it the reason Bunnymund felt inclined to box him like that.
It's the sand that falls to the ground.
Tooth kneels down and picks up a handful, bringing it up with her as she stands again. It was black…?
"The hell?" Bunnymund scowls, glancing at it over her shoulder. "What's Pitch's bloody sand doin' here?"
Tooth shakes her head and North is at her other side, examining it for just one moment. "How curious," North murmurs, looking back at Jack. "And what is he doing with this, I wonder?"
As if in response, the sand begins to move. Slowly, as though it were riding the wind, it leaves Tooth's hand and it leaves the ground, and as one entity it swirls around Jack—
And then it dives into his heart, and Jack's eyes flutter open instantly, though they are an odd, dirty shade of yellow compared to the bright, icy blue they actually are.
"Stravinsky," North mutters under his breath, his eyes wide with realization. Tooth doesn't know what he's just understood, but she knows that there's something wrong with him. Jack isn't really Jack right now.
"What's goin' on?" Bunnymund demands, glaring at the golden-eyed boy in front of them. "Where's Jack?"
Jack lets out a hostile, deranged laugh. "Ohh, don't you worry, you silly, stupid kangaroo. Your insignificant, oh-so precious companion is still right here. Right inside."
This Jack looks at Tooth now, who, when she's standing with her feet on the ground, is right about his height. "And oh, how he's screaming," this Jack continues, grinning like some sort of animal. "He's such a fearful little thing. He's scared of just about everything, you know. Even water. It's just so easy to convince him to give in a little. It's so easy to get him to surrender to his nightmares."
He laughs again.
"Of course, he's regretting it now."
Bunnymund snarls, lifting up a boomerang. "Let go of 'im if ya know what's good for ya!"
This Jack snickers now. "Aw, now, Bunny. You know as well as I do that you wouldn't dare touch me, now, don't you? After all, what's dear old Jack going to think when he sees his body a bloody mess and realizes you're the one who did it?"
Bunnymund looks like he's about to strangle the Winter Spirit but says nothing more. North scowls. "So, Pitch is controlling Jack," he says with a small nod. Of course. Tooth realizes how stupid she's been for believing otherwise. Jack would never…
"Tsk, tsk." If his arms were free, this Jack would probably be waving them in the air. "That's not right either, you know. Sure, Pitch's got a bit of… influence—"—cue an obnoxious chuckle—"—shall we say, but I'm just as much Jack as the one you know. I'm just, ah… calmer, more organized in the head."
"Liar."
This Jack turns his head and meets Tooth's pink gaze again, but now she's glaring at him, her heart burning with a hatred she hadn't known she was capable of. "Jack's not the coward that you are," she growls.
A moment of tense, grating silence, and Jack chuckles again. "Oh-ho," he says with a huge grin. "I'm impressed you've got so much faith in the lonely little adolescent here, but you're wrong. There's absolutely nothing redeemable about me. Not one single thing."
He smirks now. "So I've got absolutely no problem doing this."
Without warning the rope that bound Jack's hands behind his back shatters, and he slips out of the jacket the yetis were holding onto, catapults himself into the air, lands safely on the other side of the group and creates ice for him to skate on in his bare feet as he races out.
North has only just taken out his dual swords when Jack's made it out of the room, and he growls. "Raise the alarm!" he calls to the yeti who'd been holding Jack. "Emergency lockdown! Don't let him get away!"
Phil scowls and throws Jack's sweater to the side, slamming his fist into a nearby button. Bunnymund and North have already taken off after Jack, and Tooth is quick to give chase as well. Huge, iron sheets cover the windows, descending outside the Workshop as they rush to defend every exit.
Jack isn't dissuaded; he dodges one of Bunny's boomerangs, knocking over one stack of miniature robots as he does (angering Phil and the other yetis a good deal more than he intended), and darts for the doors to the Workshop; the only exit yet to be blocked.
One of the yetis jump in front of him, and Jack tries to screech to a stop a moment too late – his momentum propels him forward, crashing into him. The yeti grabs him, putting him in a deadlock; Jack yelps and squirms and tries to break free, his eyes dead-set on the doors.
Then the light that shines through their windows is cut, and the sound of iron squealing to a stop is sent through the facility, and Jack stops struggling. The yeti smirks, seeing the others catch up and believing Jack to have submitted, releases him –
– and, of course, Jack rips away and charges right at the Guardians, intending to catch them off-guard and charge right past them.
North is the first to react and slams the hilt of one of his dual blades into the back of Jack's head. The effect is immediate, and Jack stumbles to the ground, his eyes staring wide up into North's.
North, for his part, seems frustrated and confused. He puts one sword down, the other pointed straight at the boy, and he demands, "What is it that you are so afraid of?"
Jack glances around frantically, as if searching for something — and then an all-too familiar voice fills the room.
"Hello again, Guardians."
Elsa's Note: The first appearance of my interpretation of "Dark Jack"... I'm really sorry if this is overdone! Please everyone forgive how cliche it is. TAT
And don't forget to review! Critique and flames are both welcome.
