Tigger: Another short chapter. I apologize but I've been really busy. I promise it will get better. You're all such good followers. Speaking of which this story seems to have really taken off so let me say HELLO ALL MY LOVELY FOLLOWERS AND REVIEWERS! I LOVE YOU ALL! But I like the people who review just a tiny bit more. Anyway onto the story.
Riley supposed that if she was religious this probably would been a good time to pray to whatever deity she believed in. However she wasn't so she didn't. Instead Riley cursed out every higher power she could think of. That's it Riley, she thought to herself, piss off every God before you die that will work out well for you. Oh how Riley wished she hadn't dropped her shovel several roofs ago.
Pitch reached down and plucked Riley from the ground. He held her up by her fabulous candy-canes-arranged-into-giant-heart sweater. Riley felt her heart pounding in her throat. She tried not to let it show though. Her phone had said not too. Damn it, she was taking directions from a phone!
"You have interfered with my plans for the last time," Pitch growled at her.
"I say it's more of a casual coincidence that works out poorly for you," Riley suggested.
"My nightmares may have no effect on you," Pitch explained, "But I can still harm you."
"Thanks for elaborating on that, wasn't too sure of that myself," Riley blathered on.
She really should learn to shut her mouth. Pitch walked over to the edge of the roof.
"Good-bye, Riley," Pitch sneered.
Yeah no, Riley wasn't to go like this. Killed by the boogeyman. What an awful thing to put on her gravestone. She was having none of that. If she was going to die she wanted something awesome on her grave, not "Was a huge idiot who tried to fight supernatural powered freaks." So when Pitch attempted to drop Riley off the roof and to her doom, Riley clung to him like a leech. She wrapped both her arms around his arm and refused to let go.
"Would you just die!" Pitch yelled at frustration.
"No!" Riley yelled back, "I don't wanna and you can't make me!"
Pitch attempted to pry Riley off his one arm with his other hand but Riley kicked his hand away. Her wild swinging was setting them both off balance and if she kept this up they were both going down.
"Pitch!" Jack called.
He and Sandy were standing at the other end of the roof. Sandy was holding his golden sand in the form of a whip and Jack held up his cane. They were clearly pissed off. Pitch was distracted for a moment and Riley took that opportunity to bite him in the hand. Pitch jerked suddenly, pulling Riley away from the roof edge. Quickly she let go and dropped to the floor.
"Oh! Ugh! Ew!" Riley whipped her tongue, "You taste awful! Oh god what are you made of, expired milk?!"
In case anyone was wondering, that was clearly the wrong thing to say to a pissed off villain while still standing near the roof's edge. Pitch shoved Riley. Maybe it wasn't the dignified evil look he was going for but it got the job done. Riley pitched backwards and off the roof.
Riley wished she could have screamed or grabbed the edge or even watched her life pass before her eyes. But the fall was only a couple of stories. Enough to kill her, but not long enough to do much else. Instead she found her thoughts straying towards physics.
She had always liked math and science. Sure it made her a bit weird and kids had teased her at first, but she loved it. Eventually she embraced her inner geek and let her weirdness shine, allowing her nerdiness to take all sorts of forms. There was always a special place in her heart for physics. When her parents had been divorcing, when they started dating new people, and when she gained half-siblings. Life was always unpredictable. Physics wasn't. There was always one right solution, no matter the circumstances. She may not know the next time her dad visited, but she knew what time an object would fall to Earth after being thrown into the air. When it became unacceptable to believe in magic, she could always believe in the truth of physics.
Before physics there had been magic. Mom and Dad might not love each other, but there was Santa and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. They loved her. They would always bring her presents on Christmas, money for teeth, and eggs for Easter; no matter which parent's house she was at. It was nice to always have that comfort. One day though that illusion was shattered. There was no Santa or Bunny or Tooth. No magic in the world. All you have is reality and reality sucks. On the outside Riley had accepted it and turned to physics, but secretly she had always wished that magic was real. For what was the point of this amazing universe if there was no magic in it?
"There is no Santa," her mom and step-dad had said at age 12.
"Mom wasn't lying," her dad had said, "No Easter Bunny either."
But her mom and dad were wrong. Because there was. There was an Easter Bunny and a Tooth Fairy and a Sandman and Santa Claus. There was so many magical amazing creatures she had yet to meet. And of course there was Jack Frost. She was wrong too because physics wasn't an absolute truth. Because some things couldn't be and shouldn't be explained. Like what happened next.
There was a strong gust of wind attempting to push Riley upward and slow down her fall. A pair of arms snagged her from the air and the wind blew the two safely to the ground. There was a moment where the two of them stood there. Just Jack and Riley. Riley in disbelief that she was still alive and Jack recovering from the fear of almost letting his one believer die. Eventually Riley glanced up into Jack's eyes.
"Falling for me?" Jack asked.
Riley wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to hold back tears. Jack seemed shocked for a moment before returning the hug.
"You have awful puns," she choked up.
"I know," Jack hugged her tight.
The fighting on the roof was getting loud. The evil ponies of doom were still fighting the other guardians. A little girl was missing. The world needed to be saved. Riley knew she needed to save the mental breakdown of almost being killed till later, but she let herself relax in Jack's hug for a just a moment. It might have been a bit chilly but she really didn't care.
"Sandy!" Tooth screeched.
Jack and Riley glanced up to see Sandy surrounded by golden sand. However the sand was slowly turning black and creeping closer and closer to Sandy. It was obvious Sandy was putting up a fight but the black was creeping forward and Sandy was clearly losing control. Jack tensed suddenly before releasing Riley and flying towards Sandy. Riley saw the other guardians struggling to make their way over to Sandy. Quickly she rushed over to Bunny.
"Go!" she shouted, "I've got the ponies!"
Bunny didn't object as he bounced off. Riley took out her improvised flamethrower from before and proceeded to release the stream of flames on the pony. The nightmare burst into flames and whinnied and attempted to shake the flames off. It was a pretty gruesome sight as the pony caught on fire and then melted into black goo on the ground. Gruesome but needed to be done.
"NO!" Jack yelled.
Riley turned around to see the mountain of golden sand had been made completely black and the sand was shaped like it had just crushed something. Riley dropped her flamethrower in horror.
"Till next time guardians," Pitch yelled, disappearing into the ground.
Riley felt the tears streaming down her face before she realized what was happening. Someone touched her shoulder and Riley turned to see Bunny standing there. Riley flung her arms around Bunny and cried into his fur.
"It's okay shelia," Bunny comforted her, "It's okay."
But it wasn't. Because Sandy was dead.
Tigger: I'm SO SORRY! But you knew this was coming. It had to happen. On the plus side, character development and plot. And a bit of Jack and Riley being more then just flirty. Flirting is fun but relationships tend to need more then that so I'm trying to get them to see each other as actual people. I'll update tomorrow promise!
