Hey Guys! :D
Sorry this is late! I just started school and it's been really stressing these first few days!
I really hope you understand :)
Nevertheless, enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of The Guardians (Dream Works does...blah blah blah)
Chapter 8 – No More Sweet Dreams
(Jack's POV)
I cringed as Atheia's form crashed to the floor, pictures of flowers appearing above her head. Her staff lay abandoned by her side, the wood fading to a dull brown colour as she broke the contact with it.
"Whoops," I mumbled, jumping off my perched spot on top of Jamie's chest of drawers.
Sandy and I were the only ones that remained awake. I watched as everyone lay on the floor with a happy smile on their face. North was starting to snore loudly and Bunny was twitching in his sleep. I grinned as the dream sand candy canes and carrots started to dance together above the two guardians' heads.
"Oh, I really wish I had a camera right now…" I mumbled, slightly biting on my finger as I turned around to look at everyone's sleeping forms.
Sandy gave me a 'really?' look as he perched the sleeping brown-haired boy up on his bed next to North. Before he could lecture me with his charades, his eyes widened and I turned around to see a couple of nightmares run off into the night.
My mouth slightly dropped open as I rushed to the window, peering out into the night as the sand stallions galloped away. I jumped onto the window sill, turning back to the frozen-stiff-with-shock Sandman.
"C'mon Sandy! We could catch Pitch!" I cried as I flew out into the night.
I turned to the side to see the golden man not with me. I frowned, but hearing a chime, I turned to my other side, grinning as Sandy flew next to me on his golden sand cloud. He winked at me, and we glided across the rooftops, chasing the nightmares in front of us.
I leaped off chimneys, free-falling down near the street as Sandy made contact with one of the nightmares, turning the corrupted sand into a golden stingray. I zoomed through the street after the remaining nightmare, ducking under and over power lines and leaping off the rooftops of houses.
I smirked as I got closer to the galloping nightmare, its sand mane just inches from my fingertips. I jumped from side to side in an alleyway, following the nightmare. Bouncing onto the roof, I shot a ball of blue frost towards the escaping nightmare as it disappeared over another rooftop.
I grinned as the stallion glowed blue before it disappeared from my view. "I…I got it!" I shouted to no one in particular.
Leaping in the air and floating to the roof, I looked around, grinning as I saw the nightmare frozen to the floor. I walked up to it, tapping the blue and black flat surface of the ex-nightmare with the hook of my staff.
"Sandy? Did you see that?" I cried, looking around for the Guardian of Dreams. I turned my attention back to the iced, nightmare pancake on the floor. I bent down on my knees, inspecting the frozen sand. "Look at this thing…" I mumbled to myself, not noticing the walking shadow behind me.
"Frost?" I heard a voice from behind me.
I turned towards the Nightmare King, my eyes wide with shock as I held my staff out defensively. He melted into the floor before I could attack, and I heard his voice echo around the rooftop.
"You know, for a neutral party, you spend an awful lot of time with those weirdos," I whipped around to see Pitch standing on a higher roof. "You and that Atheia girl, where is she anyway?"
I grumbled under my breath, remembering the incident in Jamie's room. Pitch only smirked as I held out my staff menacingly.
"This isn't your fight Jack."
"You made it my fight when you stole those teeth!"
Pitch gave a confused glance my way. "Teeth? Why would you care about the teeth?" Pitch looked to the side, jumping away as he noticed Sandy's golden form standing next to him, arms crossed and an annoyed expression on his face. Pitch recovered from his shocked state in a second, grinning at the golden guardian. "Now this is who I'm looking for…"
The boogeyman barely got to finish his sentence. In a flash, Sandy pulled out a pair of golden sand whips, cracking them in the Nightmare King's direction and causing him to duck through them. After a couple seconds of diving and dodging around the duo of whips, Pitch conjured up a scythe made of corrupted sand and swung it in Sandy's direction. Jumping over the scythe, Sandy cracked his whips again, this time wrapping it around Pitch wrist. The boogeyman gave it a startled look, before the guardian launched him up in the air. Sandy cracked the whip in multiple directions, causing the boogeyman to be flung in to the walls, before hurled down off the roof and into the street.
I whistled, gazing down towards the half-conscious Nightmare King. "Remind me not to get on your bad side," I mumbled towards Sandy as he dusted his hands off and floated down towards the street.
"Okay! Easy! You can't blame me for trying Sandy!" Pitch said as he scrambled away from Sandy as him and I walked towards him. "You don't know what it's like to be weak and hated, it was stupid of me, to mess with your dreams," Pitch pulled himself up from the floor, holding out his hand as if to stop the guardian from coming closer. "So I'll tell you what…" Pitch's pleading look turned into a menacing glare as he looked towards Sandy and I. "You can have them back."
I whipped around to see nightmares appear from everywhere; and I mean everywhere. They morphed from gutters and appeared from behind walls. They glided down from the rooftops and galloped from the street. Some even formed right in front of Sandy and I. We both backed up into each other, turning around to look at the hundreds of nightmares that circled us.
"You take the ones on the left; I'll take the ones on the right?" I offered, looking over my shoulder to the golden man, who cringed in worry at the sight of the nightmares.
I turned back to face a particular nightmare who emerged from the herd of horses, Pitch positioned on top of it. The nightmare trotted closer, coming to a stop in front of Sandy as his dream sand flowed from his hands. Pitch glared down at Sandy and me, his golden eyes attempting to pulse fear into us…and I'm kinda ashamed to admit it was working.
The nightmare gave an evil smirk. "Boo!"
At his word, the nightmares charged forward. Just before they reached us though, I heard the chiming of bells, along with an ear-piercing scream. Everyone froze, and I grinned, looking up to the sleigh flying above us. Well, if you consider flying to be out of control crashing. I noticed locks of brown hair at the front of the sleigh, and I saw Atheia's face emerge from the tangles of her waist-length hair. She was tugging and pulling at the reins, and I noticed a half-wake Bunny, a snoring North and a day dreaming Tooth in the back seat.
"How in Hades do you drive this thing?!" I heard her scream as she attempted to control the rebel reindeer.
"Improvise!" I shouted back at her, ducking as the sleigh scraped along the road before flying into the air again.
The sleigh crashed into a building, and I saw the three guardians being jolted awake. Bunny screamed when he realized where he was, and North shook the sleep from his eyes and snatched the reins from Atheia's grasp.
As the sleigh flew out of view, the nightmares turned on us again. I gave a look to Sandy, and he gave me a nod. He grabbed onto my wrist, and spun in the air as the nightmares funneled around us. The Guardian of Dreams flung me in the air, and I smacked a galloping nightmare as I balanced myself in the wind. I zoomed around in the sky, freezing nightmares. I noticed the now balanced sleigh flying around in the sky with North and Bunny occupying it. Bunny threw his boomerangs and his egg bombs towards nearby nightmares, while North cut them using his double swords. I saw Tooth higher up in the air, slicing threw the horse with her wings, and I noticed Sandy attacking the sand stallions with his whips.
I froze the nightmares as I zipped through the sky, searching from any sign of Atheia. I felt something bump into my back, and I swung my staff in the direction of the figure. My staff clashed with another one, and I looked to see Atheia grinning at me.
"It's always nice to know you're out to kill me," she said, and I smirked as I lowered my staff.
"I can't kill someone with screams as hilarious as yours," I replied, zapping a nightmare as it galloped towards us.
"Yeah, I'm never driving North's sleigh again." Her grin faltered and her eyes widened as she look at me. "Watch out!"
She swung her staff baseball bat style, and I ducked as she smacked something over my head. I turned back in time to see a nightmare burst into a shower of green sparks.
"Nice aim," I said, floating back to an upright position. She grinned and winked at me, before flying over to help Tooth.
I smashed a couple nightmares as they galloped over to me, freezing them and causing them to plummet into the street below. I glanced to each side of me noticing two approaching nightmares, one on either side. I made a split-second decision. Looking towards each side, at the last second, I free fell, causing the sand stallions to crash into each other. Before I could pull up, I fell through another nightmare and caused my staff to fly from my hand.
I looked up, seeing my staff above me. I reached up towards it, cursing as it flew out of my reach as I fell. I twisted and turned through the air, flailing my arms out as I tried to grab my staff. Eventually, I clutched the smooth wood, and I felt my feet land on something. I looked up to see Bunny, and I realized I was standing on the wing of the sleigh.
"You might wanna duck."
I turned to the side to see a boomerang slash through several nightmares, before hurling my way. I ducked just as it flew over my head and into Bunny's paw. He smirked down at me, as he flipped the boomerang and put it back into its holder.
I jumped into the sleigh, making my way to the front to stand next to North. I looked up into the sky; Tooth and Atheia were busy slicing and blowing up a herd of nightmares on one side of the sky, while Sandy was battling a funnel-shaped sand storm on the other side.
"We gotta help Sandy!" I cried at North as I looked up to see the black swirling mass close in on the ball of golden sand in the middle.
North urged the reindeer towards the Guardian of Dreams. The sleigh flew up to the black and gold sandstorm and as we near it, I could see Pitch in the distance wielding and arrow, aimed at…Sandy. My eyes widened, and I went to open my mouth to warn The Guardian of Dreams when Pitch released.
Everything seemed to go in slow motion. My heart dropped as I saw the arrow fly through the air. The sleigh didn't seemed to go fast enough, and my breath hitched in my throat as the arrow plunged into Sandy's back. He jerked upwards as the arrow melted into his body, and the black sand spread throughout his golden form.
"NO!" I shouted as I leaped up into the air, flying as fast as I could towards the fading guardian.
I heard Pitch laugh as the corrupted sand snaked across his body. "Don't fight the fear, little man!"
I urged myself to go faster as Sandy's dream sand darkened around him. "Hurry! Hurry Jack!" I heard North cry over the whining nightmares. I was drained from fighting, but I forced myself to go faster. I pleaded with Wind to take me to him faster, but even Wind seemed to have troubles with my requested speed.
"I'd say sweet dreams," Pitch hissed, staring down at the guardian as the darkened sand now covered him up to his neck. "But there aren't any left."
I was so close. I held my staff out, ready to freeze the nightmares around Sandy. The corrupted sand swirled closer and closer to the guardian. And then…he was gone. The black sand retreated away from the clouds. No gold remained.
"No…" I said in disbelief, stopping in the air as I searched for the guardian. I glared daggers at the smirking Pitch, before letting out a cry of rage and tearing through the air towards the Nightmare King.
Pitch sent a wave of nightmares hurtling my direction. My speed in the sky faltered as I floated in shock and I watched the herd of nightmares gallop towards me. I squeezed my eyes shut as I braced for the impact. In a matter of seconds, I felt the nightmares on top of me. Sand scratched at my face and hooves trampled my body. But I didn't care. I just felt miserable and angry; I felt weak. I was so close; I could've saved him. I could feel a channel of energy race through my staff as the pain and anger built up in me. Not caring about the consequences, I did the only thing I could do; I let it out.
I screamed. I let all the pain and hurtful thoughts out in that scream. I could felt my energy drain away as my staff let all the sparking energy out. I heard crackling in the air and I briefly noticed I wasn't surrounded my nightmares anymore. I weakly opened my eyes to see the entire herd of nightmares explode into dust, falling back to the Earth bellow. I struggled to keep myself in the sky, but I even failed at that.
I plummeted along with the nightmare remains to the ground. I was barely able to keep hold of my staff as I felt warm arms surround my body. I managed to open my eyes to see Tooth's amethyst orbs staring down at me. I felt her place me down in the wooden seats of the sleigh.
"Jack? How…how'd you do that?" She asked me curiously, worry edging her voice.
"I…I didn't know I could," I breathed as I groaned and attempted to sit up.
I noticed everyone being quiet, and I looked up to the sky where Sandy was just a moment ago. My eyes pricked with tears as I finally managed to figure out what happened just moments ago.
Sandy, the Guardian of Dreams, was gone…
…The Nightmare King had murdered him…
…And it was all my fault.
There ya go :)
Well...that was depressing. :( It was so difficult to write this chapter! But, no matter, I did it, and I hope it's alright :)
On with the responses!
Review Responses:
storygirl99210: Glad you did :) That was actually my favourite chapter to write...so far ;)
JustPlainOldMe: Me? Being annoyed?! ABOUT ANSWERING REVIEWS?! ...okay I've calmed down ;) But seriously, I LOVE replying to reviews; it gives me a chance to talk to all my awesome reviewers! I'll tell you a secret though...your reviews are my favourites! *shhhh! don't tell anyone! * ;) I love your comments and inspiring thoughts and I appreciate that you understand that I don't have that much time on my hands. You are an AWESOME inspirer (? is that a word, lol it is now!) and reviewer, and I look forward to your reviews ;)
ctem335: You've probably already figured out what she was dreaming about since you read the update ;) And it's a good idea, but I'm not having romance in this story, reasons being you'll have to read on to find out! ;)
Bearybeary: Same! I found it absolutely hilarious!
Guest: I'm sorry, I've mentioned this a few times, but I'll say it again because I don't want everyone to get confused; I will not be having romance in the story, since it will be interfering with the plot of the story. There might be slight friendship fluff, but that's all I can afford to have. Again, I apologize. As for you're other question, in my opinion, I think that Pitch would create both genders of the nightmares. 'Stallions' was another word I used so I didn't have to keep repeating 'nightmares' and 'horses' over and over again because that gets boring and irritating for the reader. If you have a problem with it though you can always tell me, I don't mind changing it :) Thanks for reviewing!
Nekolover3: Glad you do!
Jenny: OKAY OKAY! I UPDATED! Sheesh calm down! ;) Nah, in seriousness, I'm really glad you like it :D For the chapter thing, I guess it might be a glitch because when I went to check it, it was fine. As for what Atheia looks like: She has dark 'chocolate brown' hair that reaches her waist and emerald green eyes. She is around a head shorter than Jack, fairly thin and she has slightly tan skin. She wears a green, spaghetti-strap top and denim shorts along with a black, hooded cloak that reaches her ankles. Also, She walks around barefoot and always carries around her staff (looks exactly like Jack's except it glows green instead of an icy blue.) Hope that helps! (I am not commenting on the fact that Jack's your boyfriend...)
Thank you guys for reviewing last chapter! You are all awesome!
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Updates are (hopefully!) soon to come, and I only own what you don't recognize in the movie!
Bye!
CrystalxRose
