At first, Jack had been more than happy to fight with the nightmares. It gave him the chance to let out the anger and frustration he felt at being stripped of his Guardian title. But with the nonstop fighting going on nearly three days now, he was thoroughly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to collapse in a snow bank and go back to sleep for the reason of the season. However, the Nightmares weren't about to let that happen; even as Jack fled as fast as he could, the Nightmares would quickly catch up to him.
This time, the two Nightmares in pursuit of him fell back and self-imploded. Though, due to the nightmare collar, Jack saw them being struck down by something. The nightmare sand reformed into a replica of Sandy, who he saw as responsible for striking down the dark horses. For a second, Jack was relieved to see the Sandman. But when the replica turned its attention to him, he was reminded that Sandy was no longer on his side.
A glittering whip of nightmare sand cracked through the air and struck Jack across his back, sending him spiraling down to the ground. Jack hit the ground with the resonating sound of cracking ice. He stumbled to his feet, gasping for breath, but stumbled and collapsed back onto the frozen ground. The replica hung in the air for a few moments, before slowly descending to the ground.
Still trying to regain his breath, he forced himself to his hands and knees. His vision had been slightly jarred from impact, making it that much harder to see where he'd landed. Once everything came back into focus, he immediately knew where he was; the Warrens.
xXxXx
Toothiana had already figured out that the cause of decay in Jack's childhood teeth was corruption of his memory. It made sense to her; a cavity infecting a tooth and spreading to others was like a corrupted memory influencing the rest. But still, she sought to ask several yetis what they thought the cause was. It was a distraction North had come up with. It wasn't much of one, but it would be enough to keep the smartest yetis occupied while he and Bunnymund snuck back outside to the reindeer stables. Only one yeti was guarding them now, but had fallen asleep on the job; North made a mental note to reprimand the yeti later.
The two crept past the sleeping yeti and up to the first stall. Dasher perked his ears up and looked at them curiously before stamping his hoof in slight annoyance. The noise caught the attention of Dancer, in the stall beside him, who began to prance around and knock against the walls of his stall.
"North, do somethin'!" Bunnymund whispered.
North scowled at him and ran up to Dancer's stall, throwing open the gate and entering, then catching the reindeer by his head. North held Dancer's head firmly in his hands and stared him right in the eyes. Immediately, Dancer's excitement dissipated and he calmed down. A few other reindeer who had heard watched with curiosity and growing excitement, though they kept the latter well hidden. North let go of Dancer and led him out of the stall, motioning for Bunnymund to help get the other reindeer out.
Once all eight were out of their stalls, they led them out of the stables and towards the hangar that housed the sleigh. All the way there, North and Bunnymund silently cursed the metal shoes on the reindeers hooves making such loud noises against the ground. Especially once they reached the hanger where the ground turned to icy metal.
"Why d'ya even have shoes on 'em?" Bunnymund snapped, "They fly half the time!"
"They did not always fly, my friend," North smiled, "For many years, they pulled old sleigh across land."
"What?"
"Old sleigh, as Jack would say, was rickety. No good for flying. So, I build this sleigh!" North grinned, throwing open the hangar doors.
The sleigh Bunnymund had come to know sat gleaming and freshly shined in hangar. And most importantly, it had been fully repaired. The reindeer shook free of North and Bunnymund, habitually trotting over to the sleigh and taking their positions. North strode over and began hooking up their harnesses; it was a task now for the yetis, but he was glad to be doing it himself again. It reminded him of his younger days.
"You get Tooth, sleigh will be ready by the time you come back," North instructed.
Bunnymund nodded and bounded off back to Santoff Clausen. He found Toothiana and the yetis in the library going through dozens of books in search of a cause for the sudden tooth decay. Bunnymund waved to get her attention, then motioned for her to follow. As he turned back for the hangar, he faintly heard Toothiana excusing herself because her mini fairies needed her. The yetis mumbled in acknowledgment, hardly giving it a second thought.
"Well, that was easy…" Toothiana commented once they were outside.
"Don't jinx it, eh?"
North waited in the sleigh as the reindeer danced and kicked in anticipation; they were rarely ever patient. Toothiana fluttered down into the seat behind North while Bunnymund reluctantly climbed in beside her. He knew now wasn't the time for complaining about his hate of flying. With that small victory, North took up the reins and snapped them with a yell. The reindeer bayed and stormed off down the track.
"We go straight to Jack, agreed?" North hollered over the rushing air.
"Agreed!" Toothiana replied.
Bunnymund gave a meek nod.
xXxXx
Jack had barely enough strength left to fight and instead took to hiding and taking cheap shots at the replica. Despite numerous ambushes, and because of Pitch's orders, it continued to search the wasted Warrens for the winter spirit. It moved cautiously beneath trees, looking up in their branches for Jack, and blasted aside snow banks hoping to oust him. Wherever Jack was hiding now was far too good of a hiding place for the replica to find.
It silently screamed in frustration and lashed out at a nearby stalagmite and launching it into the air. The replica watched it, still fuming, and saw something in the sky. The real Sandy was barreling towards the Warrens and closely followed the familiar sleigh. The replica cursed and dissolved in on itself, slithering into the shadows that clung to the tunnel entrances of the Warrens.
"Ah, great. As if Frostbite ain't already ruined my Warrens," Bunnymund grumbled.
"Not now, Bunny," North replied as he landed the sleigh beside Sandy's biplane, "Sandy, where is Jack?"
Sandy shrugged and created a series of images to indicate he'd only seen the nightmare sand here looking for him. The Guardians glanced around the Warrens, seeing there had been a short fight that had apparently turned one-sided. North frowned and pulled a snow globe out of his heavy coat.
"Are you sure he's here?" Toothiana asked.
"Globe says Jack is here…" North trailed off, "But does not say where here."
"Ankle-biter's probably holed up in my house," Bunnymund growled.
Bunnymund headed off in the direction of his home, followed by the other Guardians. His home was a small, stony cottage built into the side of a low hill; the sort of humble home Toothiana adored. Bunnymund stopped just short of the door, ear perked up and eyes narrowed. He moved carefully over the window and peered inside, trying to keep most of himself out of view. He couldn't see anything unusual inside, just some snow and ice that had gotten in through cracks and under the door. Bunnymund grimaced and reached for the door, keeping to the side of it as he gently pushed it open.
Nothing happened.
He opened the door wider and took a cautious step inside with the other right behind him. They looked for Jack in any place he could be hiding; under furniture, in cabinets or closets, even just behind doors.
"Maybe he's somewhere else….?" Toothiana suggested.
Bunnymund shook his head, he knew Jack was there somewhere. There was only one place in the house left that they hadn't checked. Bunnymund went into the next room and noticed the rug on the floor had been moved. He didn't see it the first time they checked the room because he had no idea Jack knew what was under it. Bunnymund kicked the rug aside, revealing an old wooden door in the floor; its lock broken off. He stood on the side of the door's hinge, intending to use it as a sort of shield just in case.
"You little rat," Bunnymund growled as he ripped it open, "Get outta my burrow!"
A massive stalagmite of ice erupted out of the burrow, spearing through the space Bunnymund would have been if he'd opened it normally. The ice shattered, throwing razor sharp fragments in all directions. Bunnymund hid behind the door while the others quickly took cover behind whatever was closest to them. Then a blur of blue and white shot out of the burrow and through the house.
Sandy huffed and cracked a rope after Jack, catching him around the ankle and slamming him to the ground just outside the front door. Jack bristled and swung his staff, severing the rope with a blade of ice, and scrambled back to his feet.
"Oh, no ya don't!" Bunnymund barked.
He bounded through the house as quickly as he would through his tunnels and pounced on Jack, pinning him back to the ground. Jack gritted his teeth, glaring at the pooka, and rapidly dropped his own body temperature to well below freezing. He gave a spiteful grin as Bunnymund's eyes widened in pain and he reeled back, clutching his paws to his chest. Jack barely had time to get up again before he was struck in the side of his face by ball of golden dream sand. The boy staggered a few feet before collapsing into the snow.
"Finally…" North sighed, "Good job, Sandy."
Sandy smiled as the Russian walked over to the now sleeping Jack. At the same time, the nightmare sand of the replica slithered alongside him, hidden beneath of layer of snow. As North bent over to scoop Jack up, the nightmare sand darted out of the snow and infected the dream sand floating over Jack's head. The dream sand shuddered and allowed the infection to devour it. Instantly, Jack's eyes snapped open in fear of whatever nightmare the sand caused and swung at North.
The hook of his staff caught North across the face and spun him around. Jack followed it up with a surge of violent wind that sent North flying into the other Guardians and into the side of Bunnymund's house. The stones fractured but refused to give way, making the impact that much more painful. To add insult to injury, several feet of snow fell from the roof and buried them.
Bunnymund thrashed around until he was free of the snow, still furious that Jack had gone into his very private burrow. He looked around the Warrens, breathing heavily, but saw no sign of Jack. The boy was gone again.
"North! We need a new plan, 'cause clearly this one ain't workin'!"
"I know…" North groaned, pulling himself out of the snow mound.
Sandy offered up the image of an aged old man whom they all knew.
"Yes, we will try same plan we used with Old Man Winter…but hopefully with different outcome."
o0o0o0o
Author: oh shit, do I sense a back story here? …probably not, just allusions. anyway, name of the chapter….yeah, because of how many times I mentioned the ground…
125 review, please?