He hadn't even had time to calm down before he had to depart, Jack leaving Burgess as soon as he had seen Sandy in the distance. He bought himself some time by retreating to Antarctica, knowing few could or would venture here, let alone search the icy plains for him. A little over half a month quickly flew by in the immortal's eyes, Jack pacing about aimlessly and creating blizzards as he went, all the while repeatedly checking on the black veins that covered his chest. The black sand beneath his skin had consumed most of his torso as the fear Jack held increased, no longer simply veins that spread outwards. It looked like he had a gaping hole spawning from just below his ribs, starting right where he had been stabbed. It had progressed so far so that it had consumed the entirety of his torso; from the base of his neck to past his prominent hip bones, all he could see was a black expanse that had replaced the former porcelain skin. From the black canvas the spiderweb veins spread outwards in all directions, moving to twine past his knees and stretch down towards his wrists as well. He couldn't tell if the marks had spread to his face yet, though the aching pain that came with each hadn't spread higher than his neck, so he figured he was safe; for the moment. The darkness had also chosen to wrap around his sides, and Jack was unable to see what had happened on his back; for all he knew the entry wound on his back was doing the same as his front. This unknowing state only added to the fear he felt towards this whole situation, the winter spirit sometimes spending hours on end trying to twist himself round to catch a glimpse.
"Dammit...dammit..." he muttered on the seventeenth day, tugging his coat to stare at his once-pale chest, white fingers tracing along the veins that spread through his skin. Groaning in complaint, he flopped back into a snow drift and rolled around, as if holding a futile how that the white of the snow would soak up the black that was spreading within him. The teen had grown indifferent to the dull, aching pain that raced through his body with each span of the time that he spent here; now instead of being overwhelmed by it he used it to keep track of what parts of his skin were covered, and what was still him.
He sighed, sitting up from the snow drift and running a pale hand through his hair. Rolling to his feet, he moved over to where his sweatshirt and staff lay in the snow, Jack shrugging on the clothing before kicking his staff up into his grip.
Beginning to walk, he twirled his staff aimlessly through the air, a habit he had picked up since coming here. The wind, his old friend, tugged at his clothes, asking him again to fly with it; it had been weeks since the wind had been able to fly with it's ward, Jack having stayed land bound since arriving here.
It was only after a few hours did the immortal teen finally settle down, hopping onto an iceberg to watch the aurora australis, the polychromatic lights bouncing and reflecting off of the still-pale parts of his skin.
His body heavy with fatigue, having not slept since coming here, did he begin to relax under the twinkling rainbow of the lights overhead, not even realizing as he curled up in a snow drift, quickly slipping into sleep.
"Jack, I'm scared!"
Jack looked up with wide eyes; it was that voice, the same one that had lured him to Pitch's domain, the same one he had heard from his baby teeth case. In front of him was a girl, a few years younger than him, with straight brown hair and matching eyes. She seemed familiar to him; it was like something, or someone, was scraping away at a wall in the back of his mind, wanting him to remember something, a sense of deja vu emerging. His attention shifted, however, when he took in the whole scene.
Jack stared wide eyed in shock at the spiderweb cracks forming beneath the girl's feet, ice-skates wobbling unsteadily. Gaze dropping to his own bare feet, his eyes widened to see similar cracks spawning; Jack immediately wondered why they weren't freezing over like when he normally went on ice.
"Don't look down! Don't look down, just look at me," Jack found himself saying on instinct, looking back up at the terrified girl in front of him. It was as if someone had already written out the script for this whole scene, and he was blindly following along. "You're going to be fine, you're not going to fall."
He held out his hands carefully towards the girl, "I-In fact...we're going to have a little fun instead!"
"No we're not!" the girl cried in fear, tears leaking from her eyes, arms held out wide as she tried to keep her balance.
"Would I trick you?" Jack laughed from behind a false smile, trying to figure how to get them out of this situation.
"Yes! You always play tricks!" Jack mentally halted at this, wondering why this girl made it sound like she knew him so well; as far as he could remember, they had never met.
"Well, not this time. I promise," he found himself saying, hoping the voice didn't express his uncertainty. "You're going to be fine. You just...You just have to believe in me," he managed feebly, though something inside him soared as the girl gave a weak nod.
"You wanna play a game? Let's play hopscotch, like we do every day!" Jack exclaimed in false cheer, part of him wondering how he knew that, and who this girl was. He wasn't able to continue that train of thought as his body moved to the side on autopilot, following along to the pre-recorded script.
"It's as simple as one…" he took a wobbling step to the side, "Two…" Another step, this time a playful grin in place as he pretended to lose his balance, "Three!" Finally he was on thick ice, his eyes widening with a grin as he spotted his staff less than a meter away.
"Okay, your turn!" He exclaimed, keeping his eyes on the girl as he made his way over to the staff, knowing if he could get to it he could hook it around her waist and pull her to safety. The girl gave a wobbly, half step forward as Jack called out the number one, more spiderweb cracks appearing.
"It's okay, you're doing great! Keep going!" he cried in encouragement, grinning as his fingers brushed over his staff.
But that was when the dream shifted, the corners beginning to become tainted with the bitter scent of a nightmare, and the actions no longer had the odd sense of deja vu that had been picking at the back of Jack's mind.
The moment his fingers curled around the rough wood the air filled with the sound of cracking, of the weighted groan of the ice giving way. Then came the girl's scream, and she plunged into the watery depths below, the liquid pitch black, like ink.
"No!" Jack screamed, scrambling forward to plunge an arm in after her, trying to grab for the child; the water had other ideas, however, and he was pulled in, head first into the inky depths. Unlike when he had first been born under the water, there was no light here, no moon shifting through the glass-like ice. It was only the dark, and the cold.
He struggled, the burning feeling of drowning clawing at his throat, ripping him apart from the inside; feeble attempts were made to get back to the surface but he was blind, unable to tell which direction was up in this frothing sea of darkness.
He screamed out, the sound distorted, and vaguely he realized he had been choking, drowning, for far too long, that this couldn't be real.
That small thought of reason was dashed, however, when the darkness parted, and he was able to see; as soon as he got his bearings, however, he wished he couldn't. In front of him was the child from before, her hair floating eerily in the water, eyes blank with death. Her previously rosy skin had faded to the crisp white of corpses, and while she appeared dead, her gaze was locked firmly on the immortal in front of her.
"You didn't save me, Jack. You let me die," she murmured in a quiet voice, the words not garbled by the water between them. "You failed, you nothing, you monster. You don't deserve this," she hissed cruelly at him, arm making a flicking motion to the side, and his staff was tugged out of his grip by some unseen force, disappearing into the darkness beyond.
"You killed me Jack, you weak little boy. See what happens when you try to help people? You can't save anyone, Jack. Not me, not Jamie, and especially not yourself. You aren't a Guardian, you aren't anything but an invisible, worthless troublemaker. No one likes you Jack," she paused, the tiny girl's face twisting into a dark and ugly sneer, Jack scrambling for purchase so he could back up.
"I can't imagine why they would choose you to be a Guardian. Think about it," she paused, a low hiss of amusement escaping, dead eyes never blinking, never leaving Jack. "You can't do anything. You let Sandman get killed, Easter was ruined, and without your precious little stick? You have nothing; you are nothing."
N-no, t-they forgave me, they said I- Jack thought weakly, unable to get words past the burning sensation in his throat.
Despite the fact that he had only thought the words the girl seemed to have heard him just fine, cutting off his train of thought with a cold laugh. "They forgave you? What, you think that? Really? You think they are so willing to look at you, with arms wide open with acceptance?" Her form slowly began to drift around him in a circle, predatorily.
"Then why not tell them about the blackness on your chest, Jack?" she asked in mocking confusion, another laugh escaping at the look of pain and guilt that flashed across the pale teen's face. "Because you know it's not true, don't you? Their sweet words of forgiveness; as soon as they find out what a little freak you are, how damaged you are after one little wound…well, they'll just push you away again, won't they?"
N-no...
"Don't forget, Jack; they'll never accept you. Not really. They'll only use you until you become worthless. Oh wait," she paused, a finger coming up to tap her chin in mock thoughtfulness, "you already are. See, you can't even control your powers anymore." A low cackle escaped her as she pointed at him, Jack looking down to see ice coming from nowhere in the water, creeping up his limbs and holding him in place, no matter how much he fought and cried out. Then, the ice shifted, and it was black sand. It tore at his skin, and dug into his chest where he was stabbed, dragging him lower in the water.
"You are nothing, Jack. You always have been. Why do you think that you spent three centuries all alone? Because no one cares. Not really. They find you an annoying, weak, pathetic child, just another thorn in their side!" Her voice rose to where she was yelling at him, each word pounding and resounding inside his head. "Can you imagine it Jack? A millennia in the dark, and the cold… all alone. Even the wind will abandon you eventually…" the child hissed down at him, her dead form floating above him, haunted eyes staring down. "You are worthless, Jack Frost. And you always will be; a worthless, little invisible nothing. Never forget that."
Jack woke with a jerk, coughing and spluttering as if he had truly been drowning and not dreaming. Gasping, he looked around with wide eyes, trying to collect himself, all the while the girl's words from his dream echoing in his head.
Worthless
Invisible
Nothing
And you always will be
A broken sob escaped from him, the winter spirit hugging his knees to his chest. Tears spilled liberally from his eyes to freeze on pale cheeks, weak gasps replacing his normally steady breathing.
It was only when he felt a small pressure on his shoulder did he realize he was not alone; immediately whipping his head to the side, he stared up at Sandy in shock, the golden man simply floating there with a concerned frown.
Jack stared guiltily up at the other, momentarily thankful that he had put his sweatshirt back on and pulled his hood up before falling asleep, the black on his skin hidden from the other's sight.
"Oh, h-hey Sandy," he managed weakly, "What's up?"
The tiny man merely sent a disapproving look towards Jack before three images appeared over his head: a small figure of Jack, a globe with an arrow pointing to the South Pole, and a clock, the hands spinning madly to indicate lots of time passing.
Jack attempted a grin. "What can I say? I like it down here it...has penguins?" he tried with a sheepish grin, Sandy's expression clearly indicating he didn't buy it.
A sleeping image of Jack with little z's above his head appeared, the other's expression clearly wanting to know about Jack's nightmare.
"Oh it was nothing, just dreamt one of the polar bears I pissed off yesterday tried to eat me," he laughed weakly. Sandy's expression shifted into a frustrated one, small puffs of sand appearing next to his ears to show his anger and irritation with Jack lying so horribly to him.
Without waiting for any other type of pitiful explanation, Sandy had snatched Jack's staff with one of his sand whips; a large cloud of golden sand overwhelmed Jack as he let out a cry of protest to the theft. Soon it reformed to Sandy's airplane, Jack forcibly held in the impromptu backseat. Nodding in satisfaction, Sandy was all prepared to float into his pilot seat, ignoring Jack's upset cries to leave him be, when something happened.
Starting at the sand that touched Jack, or more importantly, the parts that touched a bit of the dark skin, the plane changed. Dark sand overcame the golden like a plague, Jack's efforts to break free only redoubling as the sand shifted to turn from an aviary form to equine. The winter spirit was bucked off as the sand below him turned into one of Pitch's mares, the beast letting out a unearthly whinny of rage. Without his staff he was unable to maneuver in wind that swirled around him, unable to do anything as he was thrown into a nearby wall of ice and snow. His head smashed against an icy outcropping with enough force that darkness began to fog up the sides of the teen's vision, the immortal vaguely registering as he felt something warm drip down the back of his head. Jack's limp form collapsed weakly into a snow drift, pain flaring through his body as he did so. The last thing he was aware of were the nightmares rounding to pace towards him, and the flicker of golden whips attempting to hold the pack off. Then the darkness of unconsciousness took him completely, Jack going willingly into it's cold arms.
A/N: I'm sorry, that was mean of me.
Kekekeke
