Chapter 10 - One Last Hope

Mark was found, and it appeared he'd made friends and even found work. When he heard Jack was going back to the Pole to do something about Pitch, he looked relieved.

Bidding Anna and Kristoff goodbye in the dark courtyard was strange for Jack.

He'd never really had anyone to say goodbye to before.

He watched as Anna clung to her sister, and how Kristoff gathered them both in his arms protectively, and his heart longed for a family of his own, a real family. Someone he could come home to.

The ride through the night was short, leaving Elsa gasping for breath in the cold wind.

Jack held her close and pushed away all the things his brain wanted him to think of. Just friends, he thought determinedly. But deep in his heart, he knew that he'd fallen in love with her already. He would never have admitted it to anyone, not even himself.

He knew it wasn't right.

She kept her eyes pinched tight shut as they flew, faster than before.

He realized she probably had never been in the air like this, let alone riding the rushing, blowing wind, but he didn't slow down.

He was too excited.

Then, the night sky was lit up as though it were day, a rainbow of colours dancing around them in whispering sheets of light.

"The Northern Lights," Jack murmured.

Elsa looked around and saw the display, eyes wide, awe-struck. "It's so beautiful," she said quietly.

"It means trouble," Jack's eyes narrowed. "It means North has called us all. Or just me, if everyone else is still there."

They flew over the mountain peak, and down, down towards the Pole, which glowed white as the colours surged from it.

Jack dropped down into the snow outside the main doors, running forward with a cry of shock.

Most of the outer lights were out, and the door was ajar, swinging inward uselessly.

"Oh, Jack!" Elsa gasped.

He glanced back at her, eyes full of warning. He crept through the arch, staff held ready, expecting an ambush. When he was sure there was no one there, he beckoned to Elsa.

"This doesn't look good," he said softly. "Follow me, and stay close."

Inside, everything was dark, except for the faint moonlight that shone through the windows and the coloured lights that played in streams on the walls. The lift wouldn't run, so Jack scooped Elsa up and flew them down to the main hall, hardly able to take in what he was seeing.

The last time he'd been here, everything had been festive and cheery, lit up, delicious aromas in the air, and voices echoing.

The current state of the hall contrasted Christmas Eve in every way: the furniture lay in ruins, bits of holly and greenery strewn about, garlands and light strings torn apart, toys littering the floor.

"Hello?" Jack's voice echoed in the gloomy silence, "Anyone? North?"

"What happened, Jack?" Elsa whispered, her eyes big. "Was it Pitch?"

He shrugged helplessly, not processing her words. Then he caught sight of the Belief Globe, broken from its pole and lying sideways, blocking the entire other half of the hall, huge and ominously dark.

"The lights!" he cried out as he rushed over to the globe and reached out, eyes wide, watching as the tiny pinpricks of light flickered, dying by the hundreds. "It's happening all over again, just like last time!"

"What is?"

"The lights are children who believe," the Winter Spirit gave her a worried frown. "They're going out. That means Tooth and Sandy aren't collecting the teeth or sending out dreams. It must've been Pitch."

Elsa stared at him. "But I thought you said he wasn't going to do anything until New Years'!"

"I know I said that. He must've found out I escaped and changed his plans. I've been stupid!" he kicked at a piece of broken chair.

He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them, Elsa was bending down where the chair had been, reaching to pick up something from the floor.

When she stood and turned to him, he saw she was holding a tiny wooden doll.

His eyes stung.

She saw his face and placed the doll in his hand. "Does this mean anything to you?"

"Yes, it does," he rasped around the lump in his throat. It was the centre of a Russian nesting doll, painted red with a child's face, and huge, round blue eyes.

"What is it?"

He sighed shakily. "It's Santa's centre: Wonder. It's the reason he's a Guardian, the motivation behind everything he does. Mine is Fun." He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out another doll, blue, with a mischievous smile and spiky white hair. "You have one, too."

Elsa gazed up at him. "I do? What is it?"

"That's for you to discover," he took a deep breath. "Follow me."

He turned and scrambled through the wreckage to the far end of the room, where another lift hung. Elsa hardly blinked when he pulled her close and flew down.

Beneath the main Hall was the Workshop, which was usually brightly-lit and buzzing with activity, all year-round. Now, the tables sat abandoned, the bright colours from above filtering down onto the tools and paints and toys.

"The electricity must've been knocked out," Jack murmured, leading her between the tables. "Everything but the Lights."

"What's 'tricity?" Elsa asked in confusion.

He glanced back at her. "The power behind the lights and machines. North discovered it centuries ago, way back when he was first training to be a wizard. It's not magic, he says, but science. Something's made it stop working."

She pondered that for a moment, following him towards the door at the other end. "Aren't there elves that help Santa?"

This brought a brief smile to Jack's haggard face. "There are, but they're not very good at it. Once, a long time ago, they were North's band of outlaws, before they became elves. The yetis do the toy making, and let the elves think they're helping."

He pulled open the door, revealing North's own study.

The table was full of trains and models, made from ice. Doll houses and building blocks made from ice littered the floor and desk. Sculpting tools were scattered across the main workspace, and a few towers of glittering ice blocks took up the rest of the floor.

"Welcome to Santa's own workshop," Jack couldn't help smiling at the queen's face.

"He uses ice?" she breathed.

"Yeah, just for tryouts. He enchants it to experiment." His eyes fell on the desk, where a scrap of paper lay near the Northern Lights generator. He hurried over and turned off the generator, and the humming light died away, allowing the moonlight to shine down through the pole, making a perfect circle on the floor.

The note read:

Jack,

Pitch is back, and he has Fearlings.

Don't stay here, not safe. The others

are overwhelmed, and I fear we are

outnumbered. Find us, Jack. We have

to stop him, before it's too late. Find

Ombric.

North

The name at the bottom was scrawled so quickly, he could barely make it out.

"Pitch took them," he said softly, knuckles whitening as he clutched the paper in his fist.

Elsa breathed in sharply. "So he is back?"

"Yes. C'mon, I'll take you back to Arendelle." He turned and found himself looking into a pair of angry eyes.

"I cannot believe you think I'm going to abandon you when things get rough! I am not leaving you to fight him alone."

"Are you serious?" he couldn't believe his ears.

"Dead serious," she glared at him. "You don't have to do this by yourself. I'm coming with you."

"What about Arendelle? And Anna?"

She swallowed. "They have the Council. And when we've defeated your enemy, they'll have me again. I'm not going to just leave you to do this alone."

Jack cracked a grin for the first time since they'd gotten there. "As you wish, milady."