After that everything seemed slow and dark. For the Guardians, they just lost one of the most important believers on the century. One of the most important Guardians. For them, they are falling down a dark tunnel, but they know there will be a light. They saw the light. They saw that they will always be believed in. Now, our story will take a pause as I take you into another, much smaller story. A small, but important and scary story.
Around the time that the Greeks were in their golden age, a monster rose from the depths of hell. It was not near the greeks, but in the deep forests of present day Canada. The monster, was a giant. It was taller than the empire state building, yet it was blacker than Pitch Blacks soul. It could hide and run in the dark without making a sound. This monster was known for eating childrens souls. He would start of by stealing the dreams of children and then he would corner them and eat their soul, replacing it with darkness. Now around that time a women lived, her name was Brooke. She was a mother of an autistic child, a beautiful blonde boy. She was a single mother and took care of her son all by herself. One night, the monster ate her childs soul. From that moment she deemed herself to go off and stop the monster. From then on, the monster was known as the bleak. For years, the mother searched for the monster, until a light shown down and revealed it. She fought the monster until knocking it out and putting it in a cage of light, so it may never escape. From that day, The Bleak never ate a soul again.
Now back to our heroes. After the passing of Jamie, they Guardians had a rough night. They were barely able to hide from nightmares and get back to the lake. There, they sat in silence. Jack sat high in one of the frost covered trees, creating images with snow flakes, memories he had with Jamie. Tooth flew up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?"
He looked up, pain in his eyes. "I'm going to sleep." He flew down and covered himself in snow, since he was immortal he didn't have to sleep. But it was honestly all he wanted at the moment. He shut his eyes and began to imagine bright blue skies. It went Dark. A darker figure stood in his dreaming vision.
"Long time no see... Frost." Pitch's voice echoed.
"What do you want Pitch." Jack growled.
Pitch's shadow shrugged, "Just asking you, again, to hand over the boy."
Jack went to grab his staff, but realized he couldn't do anything, "What would you do if I didn't give you him?"
He chuckled, "Let's just say... a darker evil will rise."
He paused and bit his lip, what did Pitch mean? "I'm not going to give you Raf, not again."
Pitch scoffed, "Oh stop treating the boy like he's your property. He's just a kid that no one remembers."
"He's my friend!" Jack shouted at him, "In fact, he's like family to me. And I won't let you take him. Speaking of.. how do you remember him?"
"I remember all nightmares.. that's the thing, Frost, he's not your friend. He is most definitely not your family. He is nothing but a burning out flame. A burning out flame that tries to live on, but destroys everything trying to live. You saw what he did! You know what destruction he caused! I am trying to help you Jack. I'm trying to get the boy off your hands before he does anything worse. Hell, he forced you to watch your own best friend die! You saw what he did in The Warren. The boy is evil Jack, he'll just ruin everything for you and your friends. He's an ugly, ugly evil. And I am in charge of that." Pitch explained.
He took a moment to think, and then shook his head, "No."
Pitch sighed, "Well, think about it, Frost, and if you decide to hand him over again then call me over." Jack's dream went to light again, as he shot up awake. Everyone sitting around him.
"Nice nap?" Raf asked.
"Yeah." He breathed.
Raf stood up and cleared his throat, "Alright well we need to plan. Now... we can't hurt Nightlight. I bet there is a little bit of him left inside, and I think I know how to fix that. If I can get close enough to him, to set off a fire on him, maybe he'll remember who he truly is, and it will go back to normal."
North brushed his beard, "Could work... but what if it doesn't work?"
He shrugged, "I don't have any other ideas."
A strong wind began to blow as darkness began to flood into the lake, causing the ice to crack and fill with the black sand. It grew dark, a purple light emerged from darkness, Nightlight returned. "Hello North." Nightlight said softly. It was odd seeing Nightlight speak considering he usually stayed quiet, but since he's been corrupted, he's become more disrupt.
"Nightlight... stop please. We can help." North pleaded.
He laughed, "I'm not here for pity, I'm here to warn you. The boy, The summer flame. Hand him over to us and we will stop the creature."
Raf's hand began to glow, if he were to do the plan he should do it now, but Jack grabbed his arm to stop him. Nightlight was too powerful for them to get close enough. "What creature?" Jack asked.
"The Bleak, just know that this is not the first evil that has risen up because of the boy. He's a dangerous play toy. So hand him over, or we make your job a lot harder." Nightlight negotiated.
Jack hollered, "No."
The darkness began t rise in anger as Nightlight hissed, "Fine. I will not attack as of now, but hand the boy over within the week, or The Bleak will be at full power. And we will kill you." He sunk into the dark as the wind blew and the darkness fled away. They sat in silence, unsure of what to say.
"Build more barricades. We'll need em'." Bunnymund finally demanded, going off to block off anything from entering the lake. The others went off to help.
Raf looked around in confusion, "Wait shouldn't we be talking about what just happened? What's The Bleak?"
"Talk later. We must protect first." North demanded running off as elves came by his side to help. Jack flew up, making walls of ice and snow. Creating blizzards in the sky to create a roof like area to the lake.
He flew down and pat Rafs back, "Your turn."
He mumbled, "I think we need to talk."
Jack sighed, "Alright what?"
"Are you okay? You know with Jamie and all..." He coughed.
Jack bit his lips and flipped his staff around, "I won't lie I'm upset about him-"
"I'm sorry." Raf apologized.
"Why do you need to-"
"I'm sorry for taking you there... I didn't realize that we were watching your best friend pass away I shouldn't have done that and I have so much more to apologize about I'm just sorry and-"
"Raf shut up." Jack interrupted. He began to create a bench made from ice. Jack never realized how good he was getting at this. He sat down and invited Raf to sit with him, "You don't need to apologize. I'm upset that he's gone but it made me happy to know that his belief in us still goes on. It lets me know that they never stop... but yeah even the Warren. Don't apologize. You saved us and that's all that matters. And I won't let Pitch take you."
"But it would cause a lot of problems and there would be probably war and death..." Raf pointed out.
Jack shrugged, "Doesn't matter. You're family and I'm not letting Pitch take you. I promise."
Raf smiled, "Thanks Jack..." He looked down to his feet that were covered in snow, he began to shiver and felt his hands go numb.
"Just one thing... Nightlight said you were something bad... did anything happen to you know cause that?" Jack questioned.
"Just... for the past 80 years a lot of bad things happened. I did bad stuff and bad stuff was caused because of me. I don't want to talk about it." Raf whispered.
He nodded as the guardians regrouped around them. "New plan. We need more help." North stated.
"Who could possibly help us?" Raf asked.
North put his hands on his hips and sighed, "I know man, he eh... he is old friend. Strong wizard. His name is Ombric."
"And he'll help?" Jack concerned.
North nodded, "We have to find him. He's our only hope of defeating The Bleak."
Raf stood up and straightened out his clothes, "What is The Bleak anyways?"
"Ancient Monster that eats the souls of children... must be helping Pitch now." North explained.
Raf began to frown and then groaned, "Well then... let's find Ombric."
North took a globe out from his pocket, "Bunny and I will go. You stay and protect the area."
They nodded as The portal opened and North and Bunnymund jumped through. The portal closed as Jack began to think to himself.
Give Raf to Pitch, or let him stay?
((This chapter isn't as interesting as usual and I'm sorry. Any thoughts on it?))