It was hot, scorching hot. The heat seemed to radiate everywhere around the room, beginning to become unbearable. Presuming it was just the summer heat, Jamie shut his eyes tighter, throwing off the useless blanket on top of him.
The suffocating scent of smoke lingered around the room, but Jamie was too groggy to wake up and check what it is. Probably it was just someone having a barbeque outside on a hot summer night. It made sense, his window was always open and his neighbors loved barbeques. Brightness flashed around like the turbulent waved of the ocean. It was day time, he had over slept again. He grabbed his pillow and pressed it over his head to block out the sunlight. Strangely, he felt his desk lamp steaming.
Then he realized it wasn't even summer, it was almost winter! It couldn't possibly be this hot. He forced his eyes open and jolted upright to find himself engulfed in the mouth of a flame, thick smoke filled the air, everything was ablaze.
His home was on fire. He yelped, jumping down his bed and landing on the small part of the floor that was still clear of fire.
He was hyperventilating; he couldn't breathe thought the thick smoke all around him, he couldn't see very well ether.
In instance he ran for the door, only to find it blocked by a flaming wooden board that used to be the door frame. He panicked, there was no way out, everything was turned into ashes, and the flame was closing in.
There was only one way out, it was the window that was trailed with flames. Hesitantly Jamie trudged towards it, feeling the hot substance blistering his tender flesh.
Tears were streaming down his face as he kept his pace up until he reached the window. He looked out of it; there wasn't any firemen, no fire truck, no one to put out the flame.
The boy soon found himself afraid to jump. He gripped the window sill a little too hard that the wooden surface turned into ashes. The curtain above it collapsed, setting the linen cloth on fire and blocking the way out of the window. Jamie began to sob, the blisters on his feet were stinging, giving him no choice but to sit on the floor weakly crying for help.
All hope was lost; he was going to die in the midst of the flames. Too scared to think of anything else, the child pulled his knees to his chest and began to sob uncontrollably.
He didn't hear someone calling his name right around the halls. He see the burning wood blocking the doorway being frosted over. He didn't notice Jack, the winter spirit bust in and collapse onto the floor across him.
"Jamie!" he yelled, getting his believers attention. Jamie lifted his head, his eyes lit up to see Jack.
"Get out of here, now! The path is cleared, hurry up and escape!" the teen was gasping for air as he pulled himself up with shaking knees. It made Jamie worry, Jack was a winter spirit, he couldn't possibly survive in the midst of a flame. His pale skin was reddened with the fresh burned marks he received from breaking in, his hoodie was half burned and his hair wasn't even white anymore.
"But what about you? Your gonna die here!" Jamie refused to leave his side.
"And you will to if you don't get out of here" the guardian said weekly, his legs gave out, hitting his knees on the hard wooden floor. He let out a strangled cry of pain before shoving Jamie towards the clear path.
"No!" Jamie remained there, refusing to escape without his friend. Jack couldn't even speak anymore, his breath was hitched; his eyes were screwed shut as he lay unmoving.
"No…" Jamie began to cry again. The flames grew wilder around them and Jack's chest promptly ceased heaving. He was dead; he was dead because of him.
Reality pulled him out of his dream. Jamie's eyes shot open instantly, untangling himself from the blanket wrapped around him before sitting up panting.
His house was perfectly fine, nothing was on fire and Jack wasn't dead on the floor.
It was just another nightmare.
Jamie began to whimper; with all the horrible dreams over night he couldn't distinguish which was reality and which was fake. He's been having all kinds of nightmares everyday, either about someone dying, falling off a cliff, drowning, everything that is horrible.
He didn't tell the guardians about it yet, even Jack. Now he just really wanted Jack by his side, he was scared, darkness surrounded him and he is frightened. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees something bad
Jack hasn't visited for 2 weeks, it was beginning to worry him, Jack visited every night, why would he suddenly stop? With all these nightmares, it's bound to be Pitch.
What if something bad happened to Jack?
Jamie tried not to think of that, he had enough to think about for one day. He turned on his nightlight, afraid to go back to sleep.
Looking out the window, he saw the full moon that hung high above the sky, shining some of it's light down the open window somehow assuring him that everything was gonna be alright. He remembered Jack telling him that the moon watches over every child, that it chose the guardians to protect the children of the world. But now he never felt safe anymore, darkness was everywhere around him, he is never safe.
Deep below the realms of the Nightmare King, Pitch Black stood at the center of the room with a hand behind his back and the other holding a black staff made of black sand.
The fresh, welcoming scent of children's fear filled the air, making Pitch laugh of joy.
"Oh poor Jamie, having trouble sleeping?" he jeered, looking into a dark black ball where he could see the child's every movement.
"Did you enjoy the show?" he continued to taunt, even though the child couldn't hear him.
"Don't worry my little friend, there will still be more and more to come." Snapping his fingers, the image of Jamie disappeared from the ball switching to the view of the spider that sat on the rafters of the North Pole.
Yetis and elves bustling around, it was almost Christmas, the children's' favorite time of the year, and also the happiest times. It's not going to be this year; Pitch will make sure of it. "Just keep up your preparations North, you will never see it coming." With one quick movement of his pale hand, the black ball disappeared into dust.
He turned to nearly a hundred of nightmare horses lined up behind him, "my army is ready. He raised one of his hands and the fearlings began to depart, flying through the bed frame to begin their reign of terror.
With only one horse to spare, the nightmare king climbed on, flying out his lair as well.
He followed the rest of the horses on their way to the North Pole. Pitch extended his hand, looking at his long finger nails trailed with black sand, he smirked.
Now that Jack has his powers under control, he could finally visit Jamie without frosting anything over.
He eventually fond his believer, curled up on his bed with a blanket over his head. Something wasn't right. Jack gently pushed open the window, soundlessly landing on the wooden floor of his bed room. "Jamie," he whispered.
Upon hearing this, the child tensed up.
With the blanket over his shoulders Jack didn't see, "Jamie." He called again.
Jamie recognized the voice, he just didn't know if it was real or not. He peeked over the blanket and saw Jack walking towards him.
Without hesitation the child latched himself onto his waist, hugging him tightly.
"Hey, hey what's wrong?" Jack asked, grabbing hold of his arms, loosening his grip. He scooted down to his eye level, "What's wrong?"
Jamie sniffled, driving away the tear that was close to falling from his eye. "Where were you? I was scared the whole week."
Jack smiled, "I just had a few problems with my powers that's all."
"I thought you were never coming back! I had a nightmare where you-"
"What!?" Jack didn't let him continue, his expression turned serious, "what do you mean nightmare? When did this all start?"
"I had a nightmare a while ago, just one, "Jamie lied. "I was just scared,"
"Well what was it about?" the winter spirit picked him off the floor, setting him back down on his bed, "everything's gonna be alright, just tell me."
"My house was on fire, and nobody knew about it." he paused letting a tear fall freely down his face. "Then you came but you got burnt..."
"Hey, I won't be taken down so easily," he wrapped an arm around his shoulder as a form of comfort, "if I have to fight, I'll fight."
But he could feel something else troubling the child, "are you sure you haven't been having nightmares? How bout all the other nights?"
"I didn't have any dreams on the other nights" he admitted.
Jack shifted, "well whatever happens, I want you to remember that we'll always be here, me and the guardians will protect you, I wouldn't leave you either." he looked into Jamie's fear filled eyes, "I'll never let anyone hurt you, just remember that."
Jamie nodded hesitantly.
"Now go back to bed, I'll get Sandy to come to you later."
"Wait!" Jamie clung on his arm, "can you stay here? At least until I fall asleep?"
"Sure kiddo" Jack pulled the blankets to his shoulders as the child lay down on his side.
He waited patiently by the dresser in front of the child's bed. Jamie was able to fall asleep quickly, like he hasn't gotten any rest for days. Something was up, and Jamie hasn't been telling the truth. One single nightmare couldn't possibly frighten a child so much. Judging from the dark bags under his eyes, Jamie hasn't been sleeping well. Jack knew perfectly that Pitch was behind it.
Stealthily, Jack sneaked to the window, trying not to make any possible noise. "Take me home." He cooed before he was carried off to the North Pole by a streak of wind.
"North!" Jack darted in, bringing a breeze of wind along with him that almost putting out the lit furnace.
"Jack?" the jolly man got out of his large red chair. "Where have you been? It's late."
"At Jamie's, he's been having nightmares. You don't think Pitch has anything to do with it?" Jack mused stuffing his hands in his pouch.
"Perhaps, I have very bad feeling about this; my belly seems like a bottomless pit." North looked up at the moon, "But Manny hasn't given us a sign."
"How can you tell when it's always blocked out by clouds?" Jack pointed out.
"But today, it iz not, it's a good sign. Now go to bed, you have another day ahead of you." North commanded, like a father to his son.
Just as Jack was about to saunter to his room, the nearby window exploded, making Jack jump and North drop his book that he was plucking out of the shelf.
"Rimsky Korsakov!"
Dark horses poured in endlessly like alluvium.
North ran for his dual swords that he carelessly left propped against the red chair on the other side of the room.
Jack began freezing the swarm of fearlings coming towards him with his staff, still confused and surprised by the sudden ambush. He froze the ground, causing some to slip away, but the nightmares still kept coming. Fearlings were everywhere around him, blocking his vision with nothing but darkness.
He struggled to peek at North, who trapped in a tight circle of fearlings; he could hear his dual blades slash trough the army or dark horses with ease. "Jack!" he hollered, "the lever! Get the others!"
The winter spirit acted immediately, calling in the wind to help them. The windows lashed open, driving dozens of fearlings to the wall, disappearing into sand as they made contact. Then he made a beeline for the golden lever that sat in front of the globe, with his staff held in front of his chest as a form of defense.
He rode the long streak of wind, blowing away the fearlings that were coming at him; some were swooping at him in a downward motion.
Horses continued to pour in the window, but Jack, he was more powerful now. A strong surge of ice suddenly shot out the tip of his staff, the room was suddenly thirty degrees colder. Jack did not stop, he trailed towards the level like a bullet train until he finally reached it.
He grabbed the handle immediately and thrust in downwards, the Northern lights stretched across the sky. Jack was caught off guard; a trail of darkness grabbed hold of his ankle and flung him hard against the wall. The sudden impact knocked the breath out of him, he lay flat on the floor with his staff out of reach, he was completely defenseless.
"Jack!" North called in concern, breaking through the dark sand only to be blocked by another ward.
Jack tried to pull himself together, but the pain on his spine made it impossible. The black horses were coming at him. He panicked, fumbling through the floor for his staff, unaware tat it was on the other side of the room.
He was breathing so quickly, his heart rammed against his rib cage. He suddenly didn't know what to do, he couldn't think clearly, everything was just happening so fast.
He outstretched a hand; his pale palms suddenly glowed blue then a large chunk of blue light suddenly flew out of his finger tips, freezing the fearlings in front of him.
"Woah" he stared at his own palms in astonishment. "How did I do that?" he scrambled to his feet and ran to obtain his staff.
As North continued to fend off the nightmares, he felt something dark and sinister form behind him.
"North!" Jack warned in sudden shock, "It's Pitch!"
Before North got the chance to turn slash his head off Pitch jabbed his sharp fingernail on his elbow, "Merry Christmas, North" then he disappeared, along with the army of fearlings that morphed into darkness.
Still unsure of what just happened, North stood there dazed, his hand landing on the cut behind his elbow.
"North!" Jack flew to him, "are you okay?"
A hole suddenly formed in the middle of them both, a pair of ears popped out first, followed by the Pooka who took the time to examine the scenario. "What the bloody hell happened in here?"
Hm…just a short author's note: I don't know where I am going now…