This chapter took me three cups of soda, about 50 Owl City songs, and lots of snack breaks. Totally worth it, longest chapter yet! Hope you love it!
*Sigh* As much as I'd like to, I do not own Rise of the Guardians or its characters.
"What?!" Bunny gasped. "H-how is that even possible?" North shook his head.
"It must have been what Pitch injected into him. Nightmare sand is coursing through his veins and nightmares are destroying his insides. That is why he is in constant pain, and that's why he is coughing up blood", he explained.
"So what do we do?"
"Best bet is to get Sandy, he has experience with nightmare sand. But, we must hurry", North replied.
"Better call Tooth, too", Bunny suggested. "She'll through a fit if we keep something like this from her." North nodded and went to summon the other Guardians.
As it turned out, Tooth was going to throw a fit anyway. She darted around the room nervously, sometimes peeping out worried words like, "When I get my hands on that no-good, low-down Pitch…" and, "Oh, my poor little Sweet Tooth!" Finally, North gave her a cup of tea and sat her down, the fairy staring into the dark liquid and shaking. The cup clinked against the saucer and, if it weren't for the circumstances, Bunny would have found that completely annoying to his sensitive ears.
Sandy was drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair, a concentrated look on his face. Absentmindedly, he twirled some dream sand in his hand. He'd heard of this sickness before, he just couldn't remember where or when. 'Maybe it was just a dream', he thought. Sometimes he mixed up dreams in reality, and things would get muddled and incomplete in his mind. Usually it was things that happened a long time ago. He knew for a fact that this particular thing had to have been a while before, since the other Guardians knew nothing about it. It must have been before he'd met them, for he'd tell them about something this important.
Suddenly, it hit him. Sandy hopped out of his chair as the dream sand vanished. He shot out of the nearest window like a bat out of hell. He left the others staring and oblivious to his epiphany.
"So…" Bunny said. "Does he know something?"
North sighed, "You can never tell with Sandy." For a while nothing was said. Then, a terrified scream shattered the silence.
Sandy arrived at his sand castle. He had to be quick; Jack couldn't afford to let the poison spread much more. Inside, a large book shelf took up a whole side of the room. Golden eyes skimmed across the top shelf until they settled on a worn leather book. Sandy took this and flipped to a dog-eared page. There on the worn parchment was a picture of a syringe filled with sticky ebony potion. Under it said: 'undead-shadow serum'. Basically, an undead-shadow was a type of fearling, but there were some differences. Significant differences. A fearling was dead, through and through. Fearlings didn't feel anything but fear and the person who they had once been was gone. Their sole purpose was to work for Pitch. An undead shadow was a person overtaken with fear. The body changed, was eaten away and molded into the looks of a fearling, but the true spirit stayed; it observed the horrendous things it did and lived every day in agony, emotional and physical. Pitch had made the serum so it could be made specifically for one individual. It made the person go against itself.
Sandy then remembered the first time the potion was used. It was on one of MiM's lunar moths, and it was just a trial run according to Pitch. It had worked. Manny had called Sandy and together they whipped up the antidote just in time. Definitely, he could make it again, but… Getting the ingredients would be risky and time consuming. Did Jack have that sort of time? The only reason the Moth was not overcome was, because of its large body, the serum moved slower. Jack was so small; to small for his age even, and didn't seem at all as healthy as he could be with his ribs sticking out and his sleep patterns so abnormal.
Still, they would have to try…
Bunny was first to arrive in Jack's room. The boy lay on the bed, sobbing and writhing. His eyes were wide while he screeched, "It burns! Help, help, please! I-IT BURNS!"
The Pooka immediately scooped the boy into his arms and cradled him like a small child. Jack's face was flushed pink and his body was hot with fever.
"Where's it burn, Jackie?" He murmured softly. The boy sniffled and gasped a couple times for breath before replying.
"E-everywhere. It… it f-feels like my… like my b-blood is-s on fire…" He clutched at Aster's arm, desperate for something to hold onto.
"Alright", Bunny breathed, trying to stay calm. "We'll take your hoodie off and getcha some ice, okay?" But Jack shook his head with a panicked look in his eyes. He couldn't take his hoodie off; he didn't want them to see…
"Jack", North said firmly. "We have to." Bunny held him while North attempted the pull the jacket up, but didn't get far as Jack bucked and kicked. Soon Tooth was holding him down, too and Jack was shouting for them to stop.
Finally, off came the hoodie, and Jack let more tears fall as he went limp in Bunny's embrace. The three Guardians around him gasped, and he turned his face into Aster's chest in shame. Deep scars and cuts crisscrossed on Jack's pale wrists. Across his chest one word was sliced into his skin.
Alone.
Phew! Guys, I worked super- duper hard on this, and I'm pretty happy with how it came out! If you don't know what a lunar moth is, read Man in the Moon by William Joyce. Thankies to all of you for the reviews and support!