Dark and Light: Blood Moon - Chapter 3

Authors note: hey guys- almost forgot to post this hehe (sorry) but yep this story is heating up now thanks for all your reviews- please don't stop I can't wait to see what you think of this one but regardless I hope you enjoy it and I will see you in two days with an update^^

The mood in the Pole was tense, and worried. The Guardians- all but one- were waiting, anxiously, for their final member to arrive... and they all secretly feared that he wouldn't- or if he did it would be with a blood red scythe in hand, and murderous intent in his eyes.

Bunny was pacing slowly back and forth, scolding himself for leaving him. North and Sandy both stood, silent and anxious. Sandy idly toying with a golden sand timer- flipping it over, letting it run, then flipping it again, over and over. Tooth was on the verge of going out to look for him-. Then they heard the wind.

The wind.

They all breathed again, relief filling the room. Only their Jack used the wind. Which meant he was still himself, and not-...

Surely enough, they saw him drifting in. Windswept locks still snowflake white, and eyes still sparkling blue. He almost looked just the same as he ever did, but for the nervous, almost haunted, look on his face. He put a strong mask over the top of it, and to most people he'd appear as carefree as usual, but they all saw through it. They expected him to be nervous though, they all were- and he had reason more than the rest to be scared. He seemed to be on edge, though- tense- like he was constantly expecting something to jump out at him.

"Jack!" Tooth grinned, her relief palpable- although concern still shone behind her eyes.
"You alright?" North asked softly, silently inviting him to open up and reminding him they were there if he wanted to talk. Jack nodded- proof he wasn't his normally loud, playful, irritating self.
"Yeah, I just...needed a minute." He told them. He knew they'd understand, but enough worrying about him- this was not the time. They shouldn't be wasting time on pointless comforts. The moon had turned dark- they needed to find a way to reverse it.

North bowed his head in understanding- everything he'd been through, he thought he'd finally escaped, was threatening to come back- the least they could do was let him have a while to clear his head. Tooth flew closer to him and quietly took his hand. He flashed her a look that said 'thanks, but I'm okay. really' and, compared to earlier, he was.

His 'minute' had mostly consisted of him pacing the same spot, ranting hysterically to himself, hyperventilating and glancing every other second at the huge sheet of flat, shining ice he'd created, desperately checking his reflection for any signs of red. He'd gone on like that for a long time- pacing, glancing, panting, whispering- until, eventually, he didn't look where he was going and cracked his head on the mirror.

Yeah, it might seem mildly funny now, but it hurt. Luckily, though, the impact knocked some sense into him. Okay, you're still Jack Frost, right? If you were going to turn psycho you would've done it by now, so- stop whining, and get to the pole already! Are you a Guardian, or not?!

Basically, he'd told himself to get a grip... so here he was. At the pole.

They needed to get the moon- the real moon- back again. He was the least of their worries right now... or he should be. He got the feeling they were focussing on him more than they should. He didn't want that- he couldn't let them get distracted because of him- he was not worth it.
"Okay, so, red moon- anything else?" He asked- more to get them back on track than anything, because he was really hoping they'd say no.
"Well, for a start, everything the moon gave us has gone and bloody broke." Bunny grumbled. For a start?! Perfect. Just brilliant. Wait- everything... only then did he notice the globe behind them all was dim, and motionless (he'd been very distracted as he flew in). There were no lights, and it wasn't spinning. Hold on... A slow dread filled him as he glanced down at his staff...

How was his staff still working? The moon gave him his staff, right- and, for that matter, the moon brought them back to life shouldn't they be dead right now? No stupid, he thought. He was overreacting. They were on about machinery- tools- and besides, they had their believers (and the moon had only brought them back, he didn't keep them alive- they just were)... Although, that didn't explain his staff...

He didn't like it. It felt like he'd been singled out. Why would only his staff keep working after everything else stopped?... He knew why he'd get singled out... but he didn't want to think about what he'd been singled out for...

Then, he shook himself again. Stop being paranoid- listen to what he said- it was stuff connected to the moon that broke. The moon gave him the staff, yes, but this wasn't moon magic, it was ice. It was still working because it didn't have any current link to the moon. Stop freaking yourself out, he thought.

"And, worse, fear is spreading. When the moon turning red, without a reason, the children are started to get afraid. Nightmares and fearlings are becoming more active- and they are starting to attack small villages. And with the growing fear, things will only get worse." North informed, grimly. Jack's mouth went dry... Right. Of course it would be everything at stake. It was just what the needed. Clearly the corrupted moon wasn't a big enough challenge for them- they needed the nightmares and fearlings rising up as well! You know, for a moment there he was worried the stakes wouldn't be high enough. No pressure, then. They only had to somehow free a miniature planet sized piece of rock hundreds of miles away from an incredible power they had no idea how to stop.

"But, how has someone managed to-. I mean no way would Pitch be able to-..." He began, voicing his growing disbelief. How could anyone enslave the moon?... Wow, when you say it like that it seems even more impossible.
"Naw, mate, this is beyond any spirit's doing..." He murmured, thinking aloud. He looked like he'd figured out something but wasn't happy about it- he shared a look with North who seemed to have come to the same, grim conclusion. Jack still had no idea what they were getting at. Something other than a spirit? Like what?

Tooth gasped and put her hands to her mouth.
"You're not saying the Shadows..?" Tooth said, as though she hardly dared voice the thought.
"I think it is the only explanation." North said, gravely.
"Shadows?" Jack repeated, confused- they said it like a person.
"Mm. Capital "s". The main man behind Pitch and the darkness. The man in the moon to dark spirits." He explained, forgetting he was talking to someone who'd been one. Jack was now even more confused.

There was no such thing.

The darkness didn't have a leader. It was all one vast, interconnected, shared conscience. The nightmares, fearlings, Pitch- they all branched out from the same essential darkness. All different and independent- but always joined to the main consciousness. He should know- he'd been half a part of it once. The connection had sometimes grown thin, but the binding to the shadows had always been there- for Overland. So where had this 'leader of the shadows' myth come from?

He was about to point that out, but North continued.
"And considering its a blood moon." North thought, leaving Jack frowning in annoyance- the way he's just going on about things he knows nothing about and expecting him to get it was incredibly irritating. He looked at Tooth for help.
"Natural blood moons happen when the Shadows happen visit the man in the moon." She began. He knew about blood moons all too well- it had been under a blood moon he'd become a monster- but this was news to him. He guessed that explained where the whole 'Shadows' thing came from. If the main force of darkness chose to gather together and take physical form (for, say, a trip to the moon) it could be mistaken that for some big, bad 'ultimate shadow master' when it was just the darkness itself. But, he was confused.
"Why would the darkness visit the moon?" He wondered, aloud. And if it did, why I'd this the first time it's taken the moon over? It would've done this many millennia ago.

Tooth seemed unsure herself, and was glancing at the others to see if they knew. Bunny took up the explanation
"It's a law they have to follow- him and Manny. It helps keep balance in the universe." He told them all. Since when did he know that? Oh yeah, he forgot he's like a special, ancient Pooka thing. But then he ruined his knowledgeable image by mentioning the 'dark leader'- was he seriously the only one who knew about that? Then again, he was the only person who'd experienced the darkness- of course he understood it better than they did.

Sandy nodded- he seemed to be the only other one who already knew all this law mumbo jumbo- then he frowned, miming some kind of pole breaking in half.
"Yeah." Bunny confirmed. " It's obviously broken that law. They aren't allowed do stuff like this. The man in the moon and the Shadows can't move directly against each other. That's why they spirits like us to work on their behalf. But something as huge as corrupting the moon..." Bunny trailed off. "It has to be the Shadows." He finished. So apparently the darkness had finally got the guts to break the rules then.

"So it's broken one of these super important laws that should never be broken." Jack noticed. Something in their faces told him this had never happened before. They didn't know what happened when one of those unbreakable laws were broken. They were heading through dangerous untrod ground now. This was big. And very, very, bad.

Sandy broke the nervous silence, as they all wondered what would happen. He suddenly brightened, showing a circular desk with a bunch of chairs around it. An 'up' arrow hovered above it, and next to it was next to it was a judge's hammer hitting a flat block.

Jack stared- what was that meant to represent? North stroked his beard.
"It is true that since one of their laws have been broken, the higher powers may choose to step in and do somehow." Higher powers? So that (or they) were what set the laws? He guessed so. So, then, if their law was broken, maybe they'd fix it? With a name like 'higher powers' it sounds like they should be powerful enough to. He started to get hopeful, but somehow he doubted it would be that easy.

"But if they are going to do something... Why have they not already?" North pointed out...

Silence followed... Maybe they wouldn't do anything.

It looked like they were on their own.