"Please tell me how everything is my fault." Pitch's lips pulled away from his teeth in a sneer as Astra sank away from the fierce glare of the Boogeyman's golden eyes. Fear began to set deep in her stomach as she continued to stand and stare at the imposing figure before her.
A shower of frost erupted by the man's head as an icicle exploded on a pine tree to his left. The man didn't even bat an eyelash as his cool gaze shifted from Astra to Jack, who stood with his staff in both hands and his feet spread apart on the icy ground. The cool gaze became hard as Pitch pushed the girl aside, her back colliding with a tree with a loud thump. Jack took a step towards her, but was blocked by a deadly looking nightmare made of black and purple sand. "Oh Jack," He whispered bringing his hand up and placing it on the loop of Jack's staff. "It's been such a long time, aren't you even going to say hello?"
Jack gritted his teeth and pulled his staff away from Pitch's grasp. He felt the fear beginning to form at the bottom of his spine in tiny shivers, taking a deep breath he raised the staff and let the breath and a burst of snow go. Pitch shrank into the shadows before it could hit him, appearing on the other side of Jack. "Jack!" Astra screamed, pushing away from the tree to pull Jack out of the way of a deadly looking black sword. With her hands gripped tight around Jack's sweater clad arm Astra thought of North's workshop and together the two of them disappeared in a flash of golden light leaving Pitch behind.
Astra and Jack landed in a pile of limbs in the middle of the yeti infested workshop. Phil, one of the yetis Astra and Jack knew well, dropped the toy robot he had been working on and rushed over, his face a mask of deep worry. He grabbed Jack first, as his arm was closest, and pulled as hard as he could to remove the Guardian from Astra's grip. When he was sure Jack was able to stand on his own he turned back to Astra and shuddered. The girl had that look in her eye that he was so used to seeing, and because he knew that look so well he was not about to touch her. "Mambugh va gohte!" He called to North who was holed up in his study.
"What do you mean Astra's day dreaming? Of course she' day dreaming, that's all she ever does!" North called back, his voice carrying a note of annoyance.
"Bekberg!"
"Alright!" North poked his head from his study, his eyes narrowed in frustration, the bright blue eyes scanned the room until they landed on Astra who was still lying on the ground. Her hair was a mess of tangles and knots behind her, and her legs were pulled up to her chest while her arms covered her head. "Astra!"
The giant man pushed everything out of his way in his haste to reach the girl. Jack jumped back a few feet to watch in horror as North knelt to pick the girl up. The girl disappeared into his arms, cradled against his large chest with a tenderness he hadn't realized that North possessed. Astra made a choked sound and tried to struggle out of the man's grip, but North continued to hold her and shelter her. He turned to look at Jack, his blue eyes dark with worry.
"What has happened?"
Jack clutched his staff with both hands, took a shaky breath and said, "Pitch."
North's face became a hard shell of anger as the name of his enemy fell on his ears. With a grunt he rose to his feet, Astra still in his arms, and began to walk towards the network of hallways leading to Astra's rooms. Jack turned to follow after him, desperate to make sure Astra was okay. It took them several minutes to reach Astra's room, Jack leaped ahead to open the door for North who murmured a quick thanks. The teen watched from the doorway as North placed Astra down on her large bed, placing her in the middle of a sea of purple, blue and gold.
"Astra's going to be okay right?" Jack asked, using a breath of wind to cross the room.
"I do not know."
"What's wrong with her?" Astra let out a cry of that sounded more animalistic than human, it sent a fierce shudder down Jack's spine.
"Astra is very imaginative. Sometimes imagination becomes too much." North thoughtfully ran a hand through his thick white beard, his eyes glued to the girl's face. "Pitch must have triggered a bad feeling."
"Why hasn't this happened before?"
"It has," North turned to Jack a heavy sigh escaping his lips, "It's probably even happened with you around. She has no control over them."
Jack frowned, his eyebrows furrowing over his face. "I would have noticed if this happened before."
"She is good at pretending it's not happening."
"What exactly is happening?" Jack demanded his patience with his friend beginning to evaporate under the stress of the situation.
"She described it once to me, as creatures of light playing out scenes of her imagination. Sometimes entire stories, other times glimpses of possibilities, and the difference between reality and these things is hard to see."
"Will she be alright?"
North smiled and nodded sadly, his eyes once more finding Astra's face. "Yes, she will be fine in time."
North left the room then, walking quickly as if it was all suddenly too much for him. Jack watched him go in silence, not daring to break the spell that seemed to have been cast over the large man. When the wooden door shut behind North, Jack turned to look at Astra who still lay on the bed, her silver eyes wide and staring at the ceiling. Every so often Jack thought he caught a glimpse of gold flashes in her irises, but whenever he looked harder it was gone, and Astra was still in her distant world.
Jack decided to settle down and prepared to wait it out, though he wasn't even sure if he fully understood what 'it' was. On the other side of the room was a fireplace, with a bright roaring fire lit in its belly. Surrounding the fireplace were several couches made of soft red and gold material, Jack walked over slowly and placed his staff against the wall next to the couch closest to where Astra lay. Sighing Jack fell onto the couch with a groan, his head was swimming with everything that had happened, he had seen Pitch, but did that mean he had returned? Jack wasn't sure what to believe at this point.
He must have drifted off and some point because he opened his eyes, after what seemed like moments and found Astra curled up on the opposite end of the couch, a dark purple blanket tucked carefully around her shoulders. A noise of surprise escaped from him and Astra's gaze snapped to him her eyes glassy in the light. Not a word passed between the two of them, leaving Jack unsure with himself. Finally he pushed himself into a sitting position, his body facing the fire and said, "What happened?"
Astra released a loud sigh, her eyes closing tightly. "I don't know." She replied in a mutter, her body tensing. "He touched me and everything just happened. I suppose North told you about my… condition?"
Jack nodded making the girl laugh behind closed lips. "Go ahead and say it," She whispered, shame filling her voice, "I know you think I'm crazy."
"You're not crazy." Jack replied, his voice stronger than he thought it would be.
"Oh but I am Jack. If I was human and had gone to see a doctor, I'd probably have been diagnosed with something. It's why I don't have many strong relationships with other Fae, just with my grandfather and the other Guardians.
"I spent the first fifty years of my life thinking it was normal, and then when I tried to talk to someone, a highborn elf by the name of Leif, he called me crazy. The story spread through the Fae so quickly, after all they are great gossipers, and I was shunned. My mother died a year later and I was exiled from my village because 'demons' were trying to kill everyone through me."
The blanket fell from the girl's shoulders, and Jack was suddenly aware of the fact that she was shivering. Whether it was because she was cold or because of fear he wasn't quite sure and he was hesitant to touch her in case it was the first reason. "You don't sound crazy to me." Jack whispered reaching towards Astra and tucking the blanket back into place. She blinked slowly, as if she was afraid to look away and find that she had imagined what he just said.
"Really?" She breathed, her heart growing warm with hope.
Jack smiled and nodded pulling away to sit with his back slouched against the back of the chair. The nod seemed to have done the trick because the girl relaxed, her body sagging against the couch. A loud sigh of escapes from the girl and a small smile graces her weary features. For a moment Jack thought he saw her eyes glaze over but a moment later that look was gone.
"I'm really sorry you got dragged into this Jack. I mean Pitch coming back is bad enough but now you have my trouble to deal with."
"We don't know Pitch is back yet."
Astra's left eyebrow disappeared beneath her dark fringe, "Seriously Jack? We saw him. How is that not proof that's he's returned?"
"He had the chance to kill us Astra, and he didn't. Why?"
"Maybe we're more use to him alive at the moment?"
Jack sighed, suddenly feeling bored and distant; this conversation was definitely not what he wanted to be doing right at the moment. He had no head for battles and for thinking ahead of the enemy, he was all improvisation and go with the flow. Astra stood, the blanket falling to the floor in a messy heap. Astra leaned down to grab Jack's hand, he gasped when he felt how hot her skin was, just like before but different this time, instead of a restrained warmth the girl seemed to burn with fire. She dragged him towards the window and opened it, letting cold Arctic air into the room. The cold winds licked at the flames in the fireplaces making them dance and flicker.
Astra's hand slid out of Jack and before he knew what was happening she launched herself from the window and into the night air. Jack watched in horror as Astra began to fall towards the ground, her arms held above her head in a graceful dive, Jack felt his body react on instinct, leaping from the window after the girl. When she went rushing by his head he had to stop and catch himself in midair. She streaked above his head, her arms held out from her torso as if they were wings. Warm air swept snow drifts into the air; however, the air was not warm enough to melt the frozen pieces of snow caught in Astra's wake.
Astra turned to watch Jack, bringing her arms down to her sides and floating nonchalantly in the midst of the warm thermal. She hadn't really put much thought into leaping out of the window and flying, it had just happened.
"How are you flying?" Jack demanded as he flew up to hover beside her.
The girl shrugged, "Thermals I guess. I never really thought about it."
"It's brilliant!"
The two shared a brief smile before Jack streaked away, letting the wind pull him high into the night sky. Astra followed him, letting the cold air whip across her body as she flew beneath the stars. She could hear their song in the back of her mind, and she tilted her head back to look at the seemingly never-ending sky. Ahead of her Jack had slowed and turned to watch his friend as she marveled at the stars. Her wonder reminded him of her grandfather.
Astra stopped below Jack, the warm thermals gently lowering her to the cold Arctic tundra. As her bare feet touched the snow a ball of snow landed between her shoulder blades. Gasping at the feeling of tiny droplets sliding down her back Astra bent down to grab a handful of snow, only to have it melt as she tried to pack it into a ball. Frowning she turned to complain to Jack and was rewarded with a face full of snow. The frost spirit began to shake with a side splitting laugh as Astra spluttered and began to wipe the rapidly melting snow from her face.
"I'm going to get you!" She cried in mock outrage as she leapt across the tundra, her feet keeping up piles of snow. Jack laughed even harder as the girl slipped on a patch of ice in midstride. The girl wobbled and fell to the ground, landing on her back with a loud gasp. As she lay there she began to laugh, long and hard as the snow melted around her and began to seep into her clothes. Jack stumbled over using his staff as a balance and fell to his knees beside her.
"Oh my god you should have seen your face." He said between bursts of laughter.
Astra stopped mid-laugh to glare at the frost spirit. "Oh yeah?" She muttered reaching across the gap to grab the front of his sweater. When Jack realized what she was doing it was too late. Before he could make a move to stop her Astra flung him head first into one of the nearby snow banks. The frost spirit pulled himself free of the snow in time to see Astra's eyes flash a deep shade of gold.
"Astra?"
With a grunt of effort Astra's eyes slide shut and her hands came up to rub her face. A tired sigh escaped the girl's lips and between the spaces of her fingers Jack could see the normal grey of her eyes. "I'm fine." Came the soft reply a moment before the girl's hands fell to the snow. She remained lying in the snow, her dark hair spread out behind her like a pool of shadows. "I'm fine."
Jack shook his head as he turned to lay down beside her close enough that their heads were brushing, but far away enough that she wouldn't feel crowded. Together they lay in silence, watching the stars turn in the never ending dance. It was quiet, and peaceful. And for a time both were able to forget about the trouble they had seen hours before, because their wonder of the stars left room for little else.