My Great-Great-Great-Great-So-and-So Uncle Jack- Part 3
Pitch smirked up at his cages deep within his lair. Within them were the seven little Burgess children who had helped the Guardians defeat him last time. And while he was not quiet as strong as he once was and he now had little control of his Nightmare horses, he knew so long as he held his trump cards the Guardians wouldn't be able to stop him from taking his revenge this time.
He watched in amusement as the set of twin boys and the girl called Cupcake did their best to break out of the cages.
"That won't do you any good," Pitch gloated up to them. "This isn't the first time these cages held children. And I must say, the last bunch were by far much smarter than you and were taught by a wizard.* More recently they also held the Tooth Fairy's little helpers. If they couldn't get out, what makes you think you could?"
The boy who at one time had been the last light, (Jamie, Pitch believed he was called) glared at the Nightmare King as he held his little sister comfortingly. "We aren't afraid of you anymore," he called down bravely. "Jack and the other Guardians will kick your butt, just like last time."
Pitch laughed mockingly at the boy. "You may not be scared now, but that will soon change."
He turned his back to the cages and examined the globe he had in the center of his lair, contemplating where he should strike first to get the Guardians' attention. Behind him he heard the children whisper to each other.
"J-Jamie," called the thin girl named Pippa nervously. "The Guardians are coming, right?"
"Cause if they're not then we're in big trouble," said the bespectacled Monty.
"They'll come, I know they will," said Jamie, his voice not showing any trace of doubt.
"Yeah," said one of the twins, though it was difficult to tell if it was Claude or Caleb. "Any second now they'll be busting in here and kicking butt."
"Just like last time," agreed the other twin. "The creepy dude down there doesn't stand a chance."
"They better," muttered Cupcake in with the voice of someone who was nervous, but was trying to cover it up with anger.
"Please," said Pitch, reminding the children he was still within earshot. "You make it sound like they'll appear any at moment. But they're not coming. In fact, I doubt they have even realized you are missing-"
In contradiction to Pitch's last statement one of the walls to his lair suddenly collapsed. Pitch barely had time to cough at the dust that had been kicked up, when something blue and fast rocketed out of the dust cloud and slammed him against the adjacent wall.
He looked up to see Jack Frost pinning him to the wall, looking angrier than Pitch had ever seen him. Over Jack's shoulder Pitch saw the rest of the Guardians picking their way through the new hole. Tooth and Sandy immediately flying up to free the children, while Bunnymund and North moved to back Jack up.
"Looks like you were right, Mate," said Bunny to Jack, while glaring at Pitch. "He did have them here."
"Still using the same tricks, I see," said North angrily. "This didn't vork vhen you stole the children of Santoff Claussen.* Vhat made you think it vould vork this time."
"How did you even know I took them?" Pitch had to ask as he struggled to free himself from Jack, but the teenaged spirit had his staff across Pitch's neck and hands and was keeping him pinned with a strength Pitch wasn't aware the boy had. "How did you even know to look?"
"Black sand," Jack hissed angrily, his eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched. "It was everywhere in the kid's rooms, who else could it have been."
Again Pitch was made aware of the fact that this was the absolute angriest he had ever seen the winter spirit. He'd assumed that the children of Burgess were just another group of kids to the Guardians. Aside from Jamie refusing to stop believing they had been nothing special, just what had been available when the Guardians had needed believers. Apparently he had been wrong and he was actually starting to fear for his life.
"Jack," called Jamie.
Just like that some of the anger vanished, and Jack turned to look at the boy and his sister. He loosened his grip and allowed Bunny and North to grab Pitch by the arms and pinned them to his sides. The two of them then shoved Pitch into one of his own cages and locked him in there.
"See how you like it," said Tooth, as she and the other Guardians escorted the children out and Bunnymund filled up the entrance they had come in.
Pitch scowled angrily at this humiliation. He would get out of this cage and then he would have revenge on the Guardians, that much was for certain. But first, he was going to find out what it was about those children that affected Jack so much…
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Needless to say Cupcake and the other kids were glad to be rescued.
"That was so cool how you just busted in there-" Caleb was saying. As the Guardians led them through the tunnel the Easter Bunny had dug to rescue them. The Easter Bunny in question was currently carrying Sophie on his shoulders, and didn't seem to mind that toddler had fallen asleep on his head. The other Guardians all had smiles on their faces as they listened to the kids chatter.
"-And then Jack slammed that creepy guy into the wall," continued Claude, just as enthusiastically as his brother.
"Definitely cooler than in the comic books," agreed Monty.
While her friends rambled on to the other Guardians, Cupcake noticed that Jamie was hanging back to talk to Jack Frost. With out meaning to she began hearing parts of their conversation.
"You really looked like you were gonna take Pitch's head off for a minute there," Jamie was saying.
Jack looked a bit ashamed of his previous anger. "For a minute there I wanted too," he admitted.
"You didn't have to-" Jamie started to say, but Jack cut him off.
"Jamie, Pitch kidnapped you, and your friends," Jack said, cutting him off. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? When I got to your house I saw a police officer there interviewing your mom, and your room was covered in black sand (Sandy took care of that by the way, don't worry). If I hadn't been coming to visit, who knows what Pitch could have done to you guys by the time we found out."
Jamie hung his head. "Sorry for making you worry," he muttered.
Jack placed his hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Jamie, you and Sophie are family, worrying is part of the package."
"You two are related?" Cupcake burst out when she heard that part.
The entire group stopped when they heard Cupcake's outburst, and the other kids turned to stare in interest at Jamie and Jack. From the looks on Jamie and Jack's faces, they had forgotten that the others were there.
"No way," said Pippa in disbelief.
"When'd that happen?" asked Monty.
"Who cares when, I want to know how," said Claude.
"Did you two do a blood brother thing, or something?" asked Caleb.
Jamie looked embarrassed at all the attention. "Well you know that family history assignment Ms. Bates gave us last month?"
The twins groaned at the mention of the homework but Cupcake and the other's all said yes.
"Well I knew my family had been here since the founding of the town, and Jack had been here that long too, so I asked him to help me out with mine."
"No wonder you got an A," muttered Monty, "I should have thought of that."
Jack chuckled, "Imagine our surprise when we found out Jamie and Sophie were descended from my sister."
"No Way," Pippa repeated excitedly.
"You have a sister?" asked Cupcake. "Since when? Can we meet her?"
"Had a sister," corrected Jack in a slightly sad voice. He sighed then explained, "I wasn't always Jack Frost, you know. Three hundred years ago I was just your average colonial kid who lived in Burgess with my family, my mother, my father, and my little sister. Eventually I became immortal, but my family didn't. They continued on with their lives and my sister grew up and married Jamie's Great-Great-whatever-Grandfather, making me Jamie's Great-Great-something Uncle."
"That is so cool," squealed Pippa, "literally, and figuratively."
"No way, man, that's awesome," said the twins.
"I wish I had an Uncle like that," said Monty wistfully.
"You're really lucky, Jamie," said Cupcake. "Jack's like your Guardian and your brother rolled into one."
Jamie blushed at the attention, and Jack leaned over to ruffle his hair, making him and the other Guardians laugh.
They started moving again after that, but throughout the rest of the trip to the surface the Cupcake and the other children bombarded the Guardians (particularly North, much to the other Guardians' amusment) with questions in hopes of finding out if one of them was their long lost relative too.
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A/N the sentences ending with a * were references to the book series (specifically E. Aster Bunnymund and Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core, read it if you get the chance). I also got the names of the kids out of the novelization of the movie (yes, I'm that obsessed with this movie). I didn't let Pitch really find out that Jamie and Jack are related, because then poor Jamie and Sophie would be hostage material for the rest of their lives. So instead Pitch knows the kids are important and will be scratching his head to figure out why. The Burgess kids on the other hand are safe to know, and I had fun writing their reactions. I don't think there's anyone else that can be told, unless you people want me to have Jamie try to explain to his Mom that Jack Frost is a relative or something. This Chapter was written cause some reviewers suggested I add in Pitch and the other kids, so who knows what other suggestions might inspire me.
I do not own Rise of the Guardians. It is the property of William Joyce and Dreamworks