Forever
Chapter 7: Guardian Duties Before Sleep
Stumbling away from the window, Jamie let out a strangled cry as he ran into the side of his bed and fell to the wooden floor. Wincing at the minor aches and pains from the fall, the boy quickly scrambled to his feet and fled out the door. With Jack gone, Jamie was going to have to take action whether he wanted to or not, even if that meant running for his life in the middle of the night.
As lightly as he could, Jamie padded past Sophie's and his parents bedrooms, praying that they would not wake up. However, as soon as he reached the stairs, Jamie could already hear the distinctive sound of sand pour onto the floor in his bedroom. The fearling had managed to slide between the cracks of the shut window, and was now hot on his trail.
Speeding up his pace, Jamie nearly fell down the stairs as his feet struggled to find a purchase on the narrow steps. He made his way into the kitchen trying in vain to ignore the slithering noise of sand pouring down the steps after him. Dilated coffee eyes flickered to the garage and the front door, and dread pooled within him because Jamie knew that he had accidentally just passed by his only escape route. All he had left was the garage, but that would make way too much noise if he opened it up.
He knew instinctively that if his parents got involved that they would not be able to see the dark stallion, and would probably think he was insane. They tolerated his childhood fantasies to an extent, but if they saw him getting attacked by an unknown entity then that would be crossing the line for them. The last thing Jamie wanted was for his parents to think he was crazy.
However, his reason for not waking Sophie up was an entirely different matter. Jamie didn't want the fearling to go after his baby sister, so he was going to sacrifice his own safety in order to keep her safe. If he could just lure the fearling out of the house, and make a run for it then Sophie would be safe. His only hope was that Jack would be able to find him in time before anything bad happened to him.
Still that meant that he was going to have to sneak back around the fearling if he had any chance of getting out of the house.
"Okay, okay, okay, everything's going to be fine. I just need to find a weapon." Jamie whispered to himself as he tried to keep calm and focus on getting out of the house.
Wheeling around to search the cupboards for any sort of makeshift weapon, Jamie grabbed a handful of plastic knifes and a frying pan. On any normal occasion Jamie would have probably picked something a bit more deadly, but it was still pitch dark in the house. So when he held his newest weapons under the dim moonlight, the boy sighed and hoped for the best as the dark horse began to reform down the hallway leading to where he was standing.
With a gulp Jamie carefully set the frying pan down on the island counter in front of him, and began to pick up a couple of the plastic knifes in his free hand. The fearling snorted and pawed at the tiled floor below it as it got ready to charge him. Hypnotized by the creepy crimson gaze, Jamie found that he couldn't break eye contact with it until it released a shrill shriek and bolted towards him.
Flinching at the loud noise, Jamie snapped out of his trance and began chucking as many plastic utensils as he could at the horse as it approached. They didn't do so much as make the fearling pause as the stallion neared, and with a last ditch plan Jamie grabbed the frying pan and swung it around just as the fearling leapt over the island counter top in front of him. With a clang the frying pan connected with the horse's head and it let out a cry of pain.
Leaping out of the way as the fearling crashed into the cupboards behind him, Jamie made a run for the front door, but the fearling recovered quicker than he thought it would. The dark horse was back on it's hooves in a heartbeat and was once again in pursuit of the terrified young teenager.
Jamie nearly smack into the front door before he began to fumble with the lock system. The stupid device was jammed again much to his horror as he tried desperately to twist the knob to the left. "Crap, come on you stupid thing," Jamie growled in frustration as he heard the hooves of the fearling clomp over to him. It clinked over and over again as Jamie struggled to unlock it, his hands were beginning to sweat as panic overtook him.
Harsh breathing sounded over his shoulder which was Jamie's only warning before the stallion bit into his green pajama shirt and tossed him backwards onto the floor. The impact with the tile floor knocked the wind out of the boy which managed to distract him from the burning sensation in shoulder blade area for a few seconds before he noticed it. Apparently the shirt hadn't been the only thing the horse had bit into before it threw him over it's shoulder.
Cringing as he sat up and softly rubbed his new wound, Jamie gasped at the sight of haunting crimson orbs that were inches away from his face. Instantly the boy began to back peddle towards the kitchen, forgetting to bring the frying pan with him. With the horse hovering over him, Jamie felt his mouth go dry and every part of him began to quiver with fear. The fearling seemed to sense this, and it's ears perked up happily in response while it's black sand mane flowed out more steadily than before. It was as if the fearling was feeding off of Jamie's new found fear for the dark creature.
Whimpering as his back made contact with the island countertop in the center of the kitchen, Jamie trembled as the fearling leaned forward to sniff him. It made a few grumbling noises of what sounded like approval while Jamie tried to resist the urge to shove it's creepy face away. However, it was this train of thought that gave Jamie a new idea. A few years ago on the night Jamie first met Jack and stood up against Pitch all he had to do was simply touch the menacing fearlings and they would turn into the Sandman's dream sand. So if he were to touch the beast before him, wouldn't he get similar results?
Hesitantly, Jamie brought a hand up to touch the leg of the fearling, fascinated by it's rough grainy texture. The dark horse snorted angrily at Jamie's sudden boldness, and to the boy's disappointment the sand made creature remained black. The dark horse's ears flattened against the back of it's head, and with a hard yank, it pulled it's leg free from Jamie's grasp.
Unsure of what to do now, Jamie quietly yelped in surprise as it roughly shoved him over and bit into the back of his shirt. This time it thankfully only managed to bite into the fabric of his shirt, but Jamie's short relief soon died as it began to gallop towards his bedroom once more with the young teenager dangling from it's mouth. As uncomfortable as it was, Jamie still struggled against the creature's strong hold on him, and his limbs twisted and flailed in every direction in an attempt to free himself.
As it approached his window, Jamie faintly wondered how it was planning to break out of here with him in tow, but his question was soon answered as it charged into the window and it flew open from the harsh impact. Jamie cringed as he smacked into the glass before letting out a cry of shock as the two fell into his front lawn before leaping over the fence and into the dimly lit street.
The fearling set him down just long enough so that it could get a better hold of the fabric while Jamie tried to crawl away, but it quickly held him down with it's hoof. Even though Jamie knew the dark horse was keeping most of it's weight in check, the boy found himself fighting to suck in some precious oxygen. He could just barely get enough into his lungs, and with a wince he realized that his face was starting to get scraped up from the asphalt. If he ever got out of this mess, Jamie knew that he was going to be lecturing a certain winter spirit whenever he got back from ditching him when he needed him the most.
In one last ditch effort, Jamie kicked back against the chest of the stallion, but he failed to see the flicker of pure annoyance as it's crimson gaze narrowed and it reared back on it's hind legs. The horse lifted Jamie high into the air before letting him drop a painful fifteen feet to the ground. Releasing a cry of alarm, Jamie reflexively protected his face with his arms as he plummeted through the chilling air like a brick.
"This fight is between Jack and I, Sanderson. There's no need for you to get caught up in this mess." Pitch attempted to persuade the dream spirit, but Sandy's gaze hardened as he stared down the Nightmare King. It was obvious that the guardian of dreams would not be leaving Jack anytime soon, and his resolve on the matter strengthened even more upon noticing that the winter spirit was injured.
With his golden dream sand, Sandy created an arrow pointing to Pitch above his head before transforming it with ease into two hands. One of the hands became a fist and began to punch into the palm of the other while Sandy prepared to fling one of the whips in his hands.
"What is it with you guardians wanting to fight? Eventually you will all fall before me, and succumb to the power of fear. There's is nothing you can do to stop me, my plan is already in motion as we speak." Pitch taunted as he backed away from the two guardians, his black nightmare sand collecting near his hands.
"You obvious don't have a good memory then," Jack weakly rasped from where he lay on the ice. "Sandy can easily kick your butt any day. I would try not to get on his bad side right now if I were you."
The Sandman nodded in agreement at Jack's warning, but the look on his face suggested that Pitch was already too late if he didn't want to get on his bad side. One of the whips were flung forward, and with a high pitched whistle it sliced through the air and latched painfully onto Pitch's ankle. Then with a skilled flick of the wrist, Pitch was sent sailing through the air a couple times before Sandy finally released him and the Nightmare King landed in a pitiful heap on the opposite shore of the lake.
Pitch's golden eyes flashed as he growled something beneath his breath as he got to his hands and knees. As much as it hurt his pride to accept, Pitch knew that the Sandman was at an obvious advantage at the moment. It was clear to him now that there would be no winning against his rival tonight even though he so badly wanted to crush the two guardians. The pleasure of taking Jack Frost down was already beginning to fade though as this realization occurred to him. It would be best now if he were to simply disappear for now, and come back later when he had recovered more of his strength back. Besides he knew that this night wouldn't be a complete waste if his subordinate had completed the task he had assigned to it earlier.
"You think you've won!?" Pitch hissed as he got to his feet, brushing the mud off his sleeve with disgust plastered on his ashen features. "Fear always wins in the end because no matter how hard you guardians try to vanquish it, it'll always be here!" The Nightmare King panted before his lips curled up into a knowing grin. "You think you've won Jack, now that Sanderson is here. Now that all the other guardians are being warned of my return. I'm happy to disappoint you, that this my dear guardian is just the beginning of the end."
In an instant Pitch vanished into the darkness of the forest, his laughter cackling around the area until it faded away. The rest of the fearlings that had been watching from the sidelines the entire time glanced at the remaining guardians before taking off in separate directions into the forest like ghostly spirits. It was only when the dark atmosphere around the lake disappeared completely did Sandy finally relax and allow his whips to reform into the sand cloud he had been riding on before coming to Jack's aid.
The dream guardian finally turned to face the injured guardian, and carefully padded across the slippery ice to get to his side. The Sandman carefully looked over the winter spirit for any major injuries and was thankful to not see any, but the pain swirling within Jack's cerulean eyes did not escape Sandy's notice.
Sandy helped Jack sit up painstakingly slow, and watched in concern as the winter spirit gasped and wrapped his arms around his midsection as pain shot across his face for a brief second. With his eyes squeezed tightly shut, Jack tried to reassure Sandy that he had nothing to worry about though. "... D-don't worry... I t-think it's just a..." He cut off with a groan as Sandy lightly placed his hand upon Jack's arm to help him up further. However, at Jack's pained sound, Sandy cringed and quickly tore his hand back, afraid that he had accidentally injured the winter spirit further.
"... I'm f-fine, thanks Sandy" Jack gasped as he unsteadily got to his feet and limped over to where his staff had slid off to. With a grimace Jack tried to bend down to pick it up, but found himself unable to do so when fiery pain flared in his wounded side. His previous injury was worse now, and Jack knew that it was probably due to the hard impact with the lake's ice coated surface when he had fallen from the sky earlier.
Biting his lip as prepared himself to bend forward again, his icy eyes widened in disbelief when Sandy came to his rescue once more. The dream spirit picked his staff up and offered it to him with a small smile gracing his lips. "Thanks again Sandy, I owe you one... or two."
The Sandman shrugged, but his face became serious as he glanced around the lake before meeting Jack's gaze again with a questioning stare.
Leaning heavily upon his staff, Jack was about to explain to Sandy what had happened when he remembered something very important. "Jamie!"
The Sandman flinched at the winter spirit's unexpected outburst before Jack took off running across the ice. Confusion laced across the Sandman's features as he watched the winter spirit leave in a hurry without any further explanation. Raising his staff towards the sky, Jack yelled out, "Wind, take me to Jamie's house!"
In less than a second the wind had scooped up the snowy haired teen, and sent him flying rapidly across the forest and back towards the town of Burgess. Worry overrode the harsh pain that stabbed at Jack's insides as he struggled to stay awake. Jack couldn't explain it, but he just knew that Jamie needed him, he wouldn't allow himself to pass out before performing his guardian duties.
Some part of Jamie wondered if this was all just a bad dream as he fell face first towards the black asphalt. The cruel ground would probably do some serious damage if this was real otherwise, and Jamie wasn't so sure if he would be able to put up much more of a fight after this. The least amount of harm that would befall him would probably be getting knocked out, but the worst was death. Unlike it's master, the fearling would hardly care if the boy snapped his neck from the fall.
Bracing himself for impact, Jamie's eyes squeezed shut and his arms flailed out in front of him as if to save himself when he knew it would be impossible. Yet the impact came from a direction where he was least suspecting. With a cry of alarm, Jamie felt something plow into him from the side and hold him in a vice grip as the wind howled around him. His fingers scrambled for a hold and was surprised to find a softer material to hold onto as the world around him became a disorientating blur of darkness.
Then a few moments later everything stopped, and Jamie curiously glanced up from where he had buried his face from the sickening view. Navy blue caught his attention first before he looked up with a happy grin towards the familiar face of his best friend. "Jack! You came! I knew you would save me." Without even realizing the exhausted condition Jack was in, Jamie gave him a tight hug before pulling back again. "Seriously dude, where were you like a half an hour ago? Being attacked by a black sand horse thing in the middle of the night kind of sucks."
With a weak chuckle, Jack quietly told Jamie. "You know, out fighting stupid black sand horse things and the boogeyman." His cerulean eyes held pure exhaustion in them as he finally met Jamie's gaze, but the boy could still see a glint of worry in them. "I'm so sorry. I should have been more careful, but I promise it won't happen again."
With that Jack pried the boy's fingers off of his sweatshirt, and pushed Jamie back against the solid surface of what felt like rough tree bark. The chocolate haired boy watched silently as the winter spirit stood up and prepared to go after the remaining fearling. "Stay here, I'll be right back."
However, that's when the faint moonlight shined upon Jack's face, and Jamie truly saw the dark circles under the winter spirit's eyes, and the way he wavered unsteadily as if fighting off unconsciousness. "Wait, don't go!"
"Don't worry, this will only take a second," Jack replied, ignoring Jamie's request as he took off after the dark horse in the street below, leaving Jamie high up in one of the tall trees by the street.
The fearling snorted and pawed at the ground impatiently as Jack warily approached. Unlike the other dark stallions he had fought off earlier that night, this one was double the size of the previous ones. It was probably one of Pitch's strongest, and Jack couldn't afford to make one careless mistake. Slowly the winter spirit brought up his staff and prepared for any sudden movements when the fearling charged.
His body protested the quick dodge to the side and it screamed painfully at him to stop, but Jack didn't listen. All he could think about at that point was protecting Jamie, and making sure that his friend was safe.
Twirling the staff around before slamming it into the ground, a strong icy wave blew across the street, decorating the asphalt with beautiful shimmering frost. The fearling shrieked at the new slippery ground and took off into the skies instead. Not willing to let the beast escape so easily, Jack shot a blast of cold after it before commanding the wind to help him give chase.
The blast had just barely hit it's target and coated the fearling's hind leg with a thick layer of frost that wouldn't be coming off any time soon. Jamie gave a supportive shout from below, and Jack couldn't help the slight grin that formed on his face upon hearing it. However, his short moment of happiness was torn away as he noticed that the fearling was heading straight for Jamie. The wind whirled around Jack as he soared even faster through the air to get ahead of the beast. Then at the last second he turned and smack the end of his staff into the dark horse's face, veering it off course from it's target.
Snorting in frustration, the fearling whirled around to snap at Jack's staff, but the winter spirit was quick to pull his prized possession out of harms way. The dark horse clipped his shoulder as it passed by to aim for Jamie again, but Jack readied himself for it's retreat this time. With a yell, Jack released an even more powerful magical blast than before that crackled through the air before hitting and freezing it's target square on. The fearling let out a pained screech before dropping like dead weight to the concrete sidewalk below, it's frozen body shattering to pieces.
The wind wrapped around Jack supportively now that the adrenaline began to fade, and it carefully lowered the winter spirit to the road below. Leaning heavily upon his staff, Jack quietly observed the remains of the fearling with burning gaze, the anger having yet to completely abandon him.
"That was awesome! Like I knew you were cool before, but that was just plain epic!" Jamie shouted in amazement as the boy finally processed the short battle that had just taken place before him. The boy quickly scurried down from the tree like a monkey to join Jack while the winter spirit watched him carefully, ready to spring forward and catch him if he fell.
Jack had almost lost the boy twice that night, and he wasn't about to lose Jamie to a stupid tree.
"That definitely went way better than I had expected." Jack confessed with a slight smirk as Jamie finally jumped down and sprinted over to him. The boy panted from his tree climbing experience, but it did nothing to deter him from his relieved attitude.
"I bet you could still beat that horse on your worst day." Jamie told the winter spirit confidently before he observed the winter spirit's ragged form and winced. "Although that might be today, considering that you look like you've just got the crap beaten out of you."
Coffee eyes scanned the winter spirit before him who practically cringed away from the boy's gaze. It was bad enough hiding his previous injury, but the fight with Pitch had worsened his condition, and now there would be no hiding his exhausted and pathetic state from Jamie. "What happened to you? Why did you leave without telling me first?" Jamie asked worriedly, his gaze softening as it settled on Jack's weary pale blue eyes. He wasn't angry though which was what Jack had been expecting from the boy, but instead Jamie was confused about his sudden absence, and his most recent terrible health.
Opening his mouth to respond, Jack winced as his side suddenly flared with intense pain and black dots swarmed in front of his vision as a rush of dizziness overcame him. Without any further warning Jack's knees buckled beneath him, and he barely even registered that Jamie had caught him before he could hit the ground.
"Um... Jack? I know this is a stupid question, but are you going to be okay?"
Laughing from where his head sleepily rested against Jamie's shoulder, Jack winced as the action caused more waves of pain to shoot through his beaten body. "Yeah, I'll be alright... I'm just a little-" Glancing up from where he was slumped against his friend, Jack blinked twice upon noticing for the first time a giant golden unicorn behind Jamie that exhaled gently across his face. "...Unicorn."
Not wanting to comment on Jack's strange response, Jamie made a face instead and slowly began to drag the winter spirit back to his house, thinking that Jack was beginning to hallucinate. The chocolate haired boy was completely unaware of the majestic golden sand creature that pranced silently behind him every step of the way, watching over the two boys while the Sandman finished his rounds in the area.
A/N: I'm still in shock that this story already has over 100 reviews. I love you guys so much, I can't thank you all enough :)
That was probably the most stressful week of college ever because of the six exams/tests I had, but at least I'm done with my first semester of college now. I tried so hard to get this chapter out earlier, but I was too busy with school and seeing The Hobbit on Friday with my best friends (and again today with my mom) that I didn't have time to type this all out. So in order to make up for the delay I made this chapter double the normal length for you guys, but now that I'm on winter break the updates should be much faster from now on. I'm guessing the next update will be on either Tuesday or Wednesday...
So the main plot of this story begins next chapter, what do you guys think is going to happen?
