Chapter Four
AN: Sorry for posting a little later than normal. I caught a cold…
"Birdie! Pay attention to me!" Jack whined tugging lightly on Matthew's sweater. He still kept his hood up; the only place he ever took it down was at home.
They were currently in Japan sitting under a tree. It was chilly out, but not snowing yet. The Reaper sat cross legged preening his feathers; Jack was sprawled out in front of him.
"Sorry Jackie, I'm almost done." The blond said finishing a row of feathers and moving on to the next. The frost spirit groaned exasperatedly. He rolled over onto his stomach and started to draw patterns in the grass with his staff. "There, done." The Reaper said.
"Finally! Jack said sitting up. "What do you wanna do?"
"Could sneak into a movie?" He suggested.
"What about Finding Dory or Now You See Me 2?" The frost spirit suggested. "Or-"
He was cut off as a rabbit hole opened up in front of them and a very grumpy Bunny emerged. "You're late." He growled thumping his foot on the ground
"Late?" Jack asked confused.
Bunny shook his head looking down on them. "Two of you and neither one can remember when the meetings are." He said. Then looked at Matthew. "You're a bad influence."
Jack quickly stood up and got right in Bunny's face. "Don't blame him." He growled. "I forgot, I didn't realize what day it was." The frost spirit said putting emphasis on the I's.
"Whatever." The guardian of hope said taking a step back. "North wants you there and the Reaper's invited." He spat. Bunny always avoided calling Matthew by name. Jack turned back to the Matthew and helped him up.
"We'll meet you at the pole." The frost spirit said wind swirling around him and the Reaper.
"Fine, but don't keep North waiting." Bunny said tapping his foot and jumping down the rabbit hole.
Jack turned back to Matthew and shrugged. "Man, he is one grumpy old kangaroo." He commented calling the wind. It swirled around him messing up his hair. "We should get going. Don't wanna make him madder."
The frost spirit smiled playfully and kissed him on the lips before Matthew pulled his bandanna up.
"Race?" Jack asked.
The Reaper smirked. "You're on."
-❄"It's better to be hurt than to hurt others."❄-
"Hah! Beat you by a mile!" Jack laughed as he opened the window to the pole and climbed in.
The Reaper pulled down his bandanna, but left up his hood. "More like a couple of centimetres and only because you had wind! Without them you wouldn't even be able to fly!" The blond said lightly punching Jack as he also climbed through the window.
Matthew looked over the edge of the rafters, his eyes glowing a dim purple. The other guardians were waiting by the globe. Bunny was impatiently thumping his foot waiting. North and Sandy seemed to be playing a game of charades and Tooth was ordering the Baby Teeth.
"Sorry we're late." Jack said landing on the floor Matthew beside him.
"It is no problem. We all forget things." North said with a comforting smile. "Let's get started then!"
The guardians started to talk about their jobs and if anything had gone wrong in the past couple of weeks. They also talked about the increase of nightmare that kids were having, but brushed if off because of school coming up. Matthew and Jack got bored quickly. The Reaper sat with his legs hanging over the railing overlooking the workshop below. Jack standing facing the opposite way and leaning against him.
The blond was watching the yetis hastily walking below. One would look up at him every once in a while. He spotted something in the shadows and looked closer. Matthew was about to jump down when an elf ran out of the shadows followed by another riding on a toy train. He relaxed back into Jack's side. The frost spirit had noticed and raised an eyebrow. The blond shook his head and shrugged.
"Naw, I haven't seen any around for a while mate." Bunny said catching Matthew's attention. "I'm tellin' ya, he's gone."
"Oh Bunnymund, how wrong you are." A low smooth voice said from out of know where. "Oh, another surprise!" Pitch laughed appearing behind the guardians. "The Grim Reaper is a guardian now? Aren't you a little too dark?" He hissed.
"I am not a guardian." Matthew said hopping off the railing and walking up to Pitch until he was inches away, rolling up his sleeves. "I've been looking for you."
"Why would that be?" The king of darkness asked flashing a terrifying grin. The Reaper didn't back down or step away.
"You know exactly why." The blond growled.
"Oh, you mean these?" Pitch said calling his fearlings to his side. The guardians, other than Jack, took a couple of steps back carefully watching the black screeching creatures.
Matthew smiled from underneath his hood. He waved his hand and the fearlings disappeared in a puff of black sand and smoke. They left behind glowing souls that also disappeared seconds after. "That's six of the hundreds you need to release." He said as Pitch took a step back. The king of darkness's face changed from shock to a smirk as he called his nightmares and surrounded the guardians.