To Awesome as Annabeth- LIES! LIES, LIES, LIES! ENDER WENT OFF TO SAVE AN ENTIRE SPECIES! I really want to do a one-shot now… but I don't feel up to writing lately. I do want to write, but I want to read and then I want to do this detective game I got the other day on the DS and then this and then that and blah blah blah :P AND DO NOT CALL ME TOENAIL! My friend has gone through all the trouble of finding out what 'toenail' is in German and that is now my nickname -_- What else could I turn the staff into? It's too curved to be a spear and too long to be a sword. Scythe works nicely :D I know, I know, I really should update the other stories, but I don't really have time to sometimes and I'm writing this one! So many ideas, so little time D:
Cal had never focused so much in his life as he had done while trying to break from the cell. His powers were well and truly gone, replaced with overwhelming despair.
He sighed, lowering his hands from the walls and smacking his forehead against it. He could feel Bunny watching him, but he didn't care, sinking to his knees and giving.
"We'll think of something, kid." Bunny tried. Cal didn't respond, staring at his hands miserably.
Why had his powers gone? Did Jack or Pitch have something to do with it? Or was it the absence of the staff? Cal had grown accustomed to using the staff to channel his powers and he hadn't been able to fly until his mother had relinquished it to him.
And where was his mother? Was she OK?
Pressing his back to the wall and sliding down into a half-sitting and half-crouching position, Cal longed to be free of this cell. He liked the wide open spaces. He wanted to free himself, the other Guardians, save his dad and stop Pitch, but hey. He wasn't a miracle worker.
But apparently, he could fall through solid walls.
He landed flat on his back in a brightly-lit, yet blissfully deserted hall. He heard Bunny shouting, but the Guardian's yells were muffled so they were barely audible.
Carefully, Cal got up and pressed his hand to the wall gingerly. He thought about freedom and his palm tingled. He stumbled forward, the pressure of the wall disappearing and he was back in the cell again.
Bunny stopped mid-yell and stared at him in astonishment. Cal had never seen that look on Bunny. Point to me, he thought victoriously.
Bunny pointed at him and then at the wall, stammering incoherently.
"Breathe." Cal prompted, trying not to smile at how flustered his adoptive uncle was becoming.
"You went through the wall!" Bunny exclaimed, throwing his hand out to indicate the wall, as if Cal didn't know where it was.
Cal beamed.
"It was so cool!" He laughed. "No idea how I did it though." Bunny stared at him again, incredulously, before turning away and shaking his head.
"No. No, no, no, no." North awoke with a snort then and looked around in bewilderment.
"Bunny, what is matter?" He asked, shakily getting to his feet. He put a hand to his head, swaying dangerously on the spot. Cal and Bunny jumped forward to keep him from falling over.
"I broke Bunny." Cal declared happily.
"How?" North questioned interestedly, ignoring Bunny's glower.
"I can go through walls."
"Oh! The fairies! They go through walls too!" North laughed. Cal glanced at Bunny and saw his understanding mirrored in the rabbit's eyes.
So he could faze through walls thanks to his mother.
Was he going to turn into a fairy?
He felt his back carefully, but no wings, thankfully.
"Do-?" Bunny started, but the door swung open again. They all looked round as Jack threw Tooth to the ground.
"Hey!" Cal protested, anger sparking.
"Cal, no!" Tooth tried to grab him, but no-one hurt his mother and got away with it, even if it was his father. He darted past her and Tooth called his name desperately, but there was no effect.
Jack raised his staff and blasted Cal in the face with a jet of wintery power.
Cal crumpled to the ground. Tooth leapt up and caught him before he cracked his head on the floor. He was already unconscious. "Cal!" She cried. Bunny rushed past her, yelling a battle cry, but the door had already closed.
Emily fluttered from her hiding place above the door, having snuck in when Jack attacked Cal. She rested on Cal's shoulder, feeling for his pulse and nodding when she found it.
Tooth held her son to her, trying to rouse him from his unconsciousness to no avail. "Oh, moon and stars!" She raged, tears of frustration and worry spilling forth. Emily looked at her imploringly, but Tooth was at a loss.
If Cal had been a fairy, she could have connected with him telepathically and woken him, but no. Of course, he had to take after his father. And even then, his powers had failed completely.
North and Bunny shared questioning looks, but voiced nothing. They could tell what Tooth was thinking, but would it work? Cal had shown one fairy power and attempted another. With the disappearance of his regular powers, had ones inherited from his mother kicked in?
"Tooth…" North started. "Maybe you can help him."
"How?!" She demanded instantly, glaring up at them challengingly as her feathers bristled angrily. They both raised their hands to show that they were only trying to help and she relaxed a fraction.
"Cal… passed through the wall just before you got here."
"What?" Bunny explained and North chipped in with the fact that Cal had tried to telepathically communicate with her fairies, as she did.
The puzzle pieces started slotting together and she stared down at her son, seeing him in a new light.
Closing her eyes, she held him closer and focused, trying to engage his subconscious thoughts with her own; Cal, come on. Wake up. We've got talking to do. Like this faze through walls thing you've got going on.
Cal stirred feebly, but didn't wake. Tooth pushed harder, trying to imagine him as a fairy and talk to him mentally just as equally. Emily's small voice appeared too, articulating various items that drew Cal's attention- cookies, snowballs, whoopee cushions, freezing elves.
"Whoa…" She heard Bunny say, but nothing would break her concentration. Projecting her thoughts and joining Emily's tirade of Cal-approved objects, Tooth felt him fidgeting in his arms. He had never slept still- always waking up at the other end of the bed.
Cal inhaled sharply and opened his eyes.
"Cal!" Her legs were numb and cramped. How long had she sat still trying to wake him up?
"Mam!" She hugged him tightly. "My head feels like it exploded. What did I do this time?" Tooth laughed and kissed his forehead.
"How d'you know what head explosions feel like, kid?" Bunny quizzed amusedly.
"I'm an expert on these things." Cal shrugged, smiling. Tooth held him at arm's length and then realised why Bunny had said 'whoa'.
"Oh my!"
"What?"
"Your hair!" His hand shot up and he looked relieved- it was still there.
"What about it?"
"It's… changed."
"Changed?" He frowned in confusion. Tooth nodded, gingerly picking at his hair. He made a few monkey noises, but shut up at her glower.
The tips of his hair had turned varying shades of blue, green and purple; still the usual white at the roots and for most of the hair. It just faded into the iridescent hues, much like her feathers.
Cal peered around his mother and caught a distorted reflection of himself in the ice wall. He grinned and ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't know perfection could get any better." North burst into laughter and dragged Cal to his feet, crushing him in a spine-breaking hug.
"You are funny, Cal!" He chortled.
"Hey, you remember me!" Cal squirmed in North's hold, nearly two feet off the floor.
"Must have slept it off." Bunny muttered.
"North, put him down!" Tooth laughed. Emily squeaked her agreement and alighted on Cal's shoulder again once he was on the floor. "Looks like you have a new friend, Cal."
"All the fairies love me. I'm so irresistible."
"You keep telling yourself that." Tooth turned to the wall and placed her palm flat against it. She tried to pass through the wall, but found that she couldn't. "It blocks fairies." She looked back at her son. "You're not a fairy and they don't know what you can do."
"So I can leave you lot here?"
"Or you could unlock it from the outside." Tooth suggested.
"Now where's the fun in that?" His mother shot him a pointed glare. "OK, OK. Jeez, if looks could kill." He moved towards the wall, but Bunny grabbed his shoulder. "Wh-?" Bunny's ears were up and he was obviously listening for something.
"They're coming back." He told them. Seconds later, the door opened. Emily hid in Cal's hood.
"What happened to you?" Jack frowned at Cal.
"I got better." Cal smirked. Jack didn't look all that impressed, turning to Tooth.
"Going to talk yet?"
"I told you, I don't know." Tooth squared her shoulders and her expression was firm and defiant. Cal looked at Bunny and North like what happened to my mother?
"You're lying." Pitch retorted calmly.
"I swear on the Moon I'm not lying."
"Lying about what?" Bunny hissed. Tooth waved him away, determined to stare the two foes down. Cal made a mental note not to get in his mother's bad books.
Jack levelled his staff at her chest.
"Last chance." Cal stepped in front of his mother and folded his arms stubbornly. If Jack was going to freeze Tooth, he had to do it through him. "Get out of the way!"
"No."
"Now." Jack growled.
"No."
"Jack, don't hurt him." Bunny appeared and then North. "You don't want to do this."
"And what makes you so sure?"
"You were the only Guardian to die before becoming who you are. Or were." Bunny sighed. "You died to save your sister. You died to save Cal. You can't kill someone you lost your life for." Jack's grip tightened on his staff and he suddenly looked indecisive.
"Don't listen to them, Jack. Remember it was them that left you abandoned and confused. It was I who took you in when they didn't."
"We thought he was dead, you stinkin' geezer!" Bunny protested angrily. He probably would have said worse, but he restrained from curse words with Cal around. Cal was seventeen! He sometimes said his own share of swear words. Maybe Bunny was worried Tooth would string him up by his tail or chop his feet off for good luck charms.
"If we knew Jack still lived, we would have welcomed him back with open arms!" North exaggerated his point by throwing his arms out, nearly knocking Bunny's head off.
Pitch started laughing.
"They're lying, Jack."
"Pitch once described you as a neutral party; that he was going to ignore you. He offered for you to join forces with him originally and you said no. You didn't want kids to be scared of you for them to believe in you, you wanted them to believe in you for… you." Tooth pushed past the others and crossed her arms over her chest. Jack dropped his staff ever so slightly and Tooth attacked then with blinding fast movements.
She snatched the staff from his hands and smacked Jack's legs from beneath him. Pitch rushed forward, but she rammed the curve of it into his neck. He staggered sideways, choking for air.
Cal whistled lowly, impressed. Tooth smiled grimly at him, throwing the staff his way. He felt tension leave him at the familiarity his father's staff provided. It had been his constant companion for nearly eight years now and it was great to have it back.
Jack pushed himself up on his elbow, massaging the back of his head. He looked surprised to see Tooth towering over him smugly and that his staff was in Cal's hands.
"Ow." He mumbled. Tooth knelt next to him and curled her fingers under his chin. He furrowed his brow, but decided against fighting back.
His eyes didn't seem so grey, she thought. That looked like bits of blue in them.
"No!" Pitch threw his hand out and Jack cried out in pain, toppling back to the floor and curling into a ball on his side.
"Stop it!" Cal ordered, slicing through the air with his father's staff. Ice shot from the end, a fine horizontal layer that struck Pitch in the face. He shoved the crooked into Pitch's stomach and Bunny took over from there, judo flipping the nightmare king.
Emily reappeared from Cal's hood and pointed frantically at the open door. Cal willed the ice on his mother's wings to turn into snow and Emily gently brushed them down as quickly as she could. She shivered and landed on Tooth's shoulder, curling into the curve of her neck for warmth.
Tooth pulled Jack to his feet, putting his arm about her shoulders.
"Come on, Jack." She urged softly.
"He stays here!" Pitch argued, struggling to his feet. North was ready and waiting, landing a solid and heavy punch straight to Pitch's solar plexus.
The room was too small to fight in, so Cal demolished the entire eastern wall. Moonlight illuminated the room and Jack went rigid, his breath hitching.
Pitch's anger reached new levels. "No!" He wheezed furiously.
If he was annoyed, that was a good thing, Cal decided.
Lord of the nightmares raised his hand. "He will stay here!" Jack cried out in pain again, shoving Tooth away and staggering in the opposite direction, shoulder-slamming the wall and collapsing to his knees.
Black sand snuck up his legs, coiling about his waist and snaking higher.
"No!" Tooth jumped at Pitch, but he dissolved.
Jack did too.
I was going to finish it when Cal got knocked unconscious by Jack, but I thought that was too short of a chapter, so even more drama now! I hope it's OK! I've given up trying to remember the ideas I did have and the notes I've got are practically useless, so now we have this!