Author's Note: Hey, everybody! I'm really sorry for the late update! My family and I were down at our summer home this weekend, and I thought I was going to have time to write up the chapter, but I guess I was wrong. So, here is CHAPTER 14! But before I get to that, here are the review replies:
Wierdsquirrelgirl: Aw that's okay! I'm glad you're back and hope everything's okay! Thank you very much! Hope you like the rest of the story.
Mrsspecialk: Thanks! Glad you liked it! Hope you like what's next!
Alexa: Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Justrockzyxxx: Lol! Well, fasten your seatbelt because there is more coming your way! Glad you love it!
NomomoCutieXD: OMG! Thank you so much! I'm glad you love it! I hope so too, but we'll have to wait and see!
: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it! Get ready for more feels coming your way!
FrozenForForever: Yeah, poor Jack! Hope you like what's next!
Anime-rocks-08: Sorry for the confusion. The idea was that Pitch created another nightmare to crush Jack's hope for the Guardians even more while he was asleep. I hope so too! But we'll have to wait and see!
NorthernMage: Yeah…he's one mean Boogeyman! Hope you like what's next!
Silvia Moretti: Thank you very much! Glad you like it!
Nikki Pond: Sorry for the confusion…the idea was that Pitch created another nightmare to crush Jack's hope for the Guardians even more while he was asleep. Hope you like what's next! There will probably be a brotherly moment between Jack and Bunny, but this mostly focuses on the father/son relationship between Jack and North. I'm glad you picked up on that because that IS going to come up at some point. I won't say when or where, but it will come up! Well, in a way, Jack hasn't forgotten that Pitch was the enemy, but Pitch's influence over him plus his anger at North and the others, unfortunately, keeps him from holding that against Pitch, which is why he is more inclined to trust Pitch and not the Guardians. Pitch knew that Jack would never turn on the Guardians willingly (remember what happened in Antarctica?) so he uses manipulation, fear, and nightmares to brainwash Jack into doing just that. Hope that makes sense and that you like what comes next!
Higuchimon: I'm glad you liked it! That's what I was going for with the staff and the yeti! Thank you very much! Well, originally, I wasn't planning on anything big happening other than the Guardians seeing Jack's memories. It was just going to be the Guardians looked at his memories, and then Jack would suddenly wake up. Then when I read your idea, I felt that it made more sense that Pitch would actually try everything in his power to make sure that Jack didn't turn against him and that any doubts he had were suddenly crushed. So, I'm glad you suggested it! Thank you very much again! Hope you like what's next!
Seryyth: Well, I always had this idea that he would laugh without any sound, but that's just me.
Breyannia: Pitch is EEEVIIIILLL! We'll just have to wait and see! But you're right! This is going to be difficult!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to Rise of the Guardians.
PS 8/1/2014-This is just a quick edit I made to the chapter. I apologize to anyone who already read this one, but I needed to do this to help the story flow better. It's nothing major. I just added more to the scene in the security room.
Chapter 14
It just came out of nowhere. It hit him like a ton of bricks. He wasn't sure why or how he didn't see it before, but he didn't care right now because he figured it out. Well, he thought he did. Sandy, the Guardian of Dreams, widened his golden-brown eyes when he thought of one possibility Pitch was able to trick Jack. The little man looked up at North, Tooth, and Bunny, who were still racking their brains to figure out Pitch's plans for Jack. Of course, they wouldn't know. Nobody knew more about dreams than he did. He was about to try to get their attention when he stopped to realize that he needed to make this easy for his friends to understand. They were just too stressed to play charades with him and his sand symbols. So, he needed another way to communicate.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a little elf mindlessly walking nearby. Without any second thought, the little man suddenly grabbed the elf by the hat and shook it violently so that the bell on the hat rang loudly. Thankfully, North, Tooth, and Bunny turned their attention to the source of the noise.
"Sandy, what is it?" North asked. "We're trying to think here."
The little man gave an apologetic look but quickly got into the reason why he interrupted. He created a sandy image of a light bulb above his head and made it so that it looked like it was flashing. The ex-Cossack, the fairy, and the Pooka stared when they realized what the little man was trying to tell them.
"You have an idea on how to save Jack?" Bunny asked hopefully.
Sandy nodded enthusiastically and beckoned for his three fellow Guardians to follow him. None of the others even dared to ask questions as they stood up from their seats and followed the Sandman to…wherever he was leading them to. Sandy had spent enough time at the Pole to know it from the inside out, so it didn't take long for him to lead his fellow Guardians to one of his favorite rooms…North's library. Over the years, whenever he wanted to take a break from spreading dreams to the children, he would usually make himself comfortable in a comfy chair with a good book before taking a nap. Sometimes North would join him, but it was very rare since the Guardian of Wonder was always busy. Recently, however, for the past month, Sandy would now sometimes find himself accompanied by Jack before this incident occurred, which made the room more sentimental.
During the many times he visited the library, Sandy often entertained himself with books about…dreams! He was always curious about the human race's different views on dreams and especially enjoyed the works of a man by the name of Freud, but that was beside the point. He had to find the one particular book that would surely aide the Guardians in their mission to save their newest member.
"Sandy, why did you bring us to the library?" Tooth asked as she, North, and Bunny watched Sandy search a few specific shelves clearly trying to find a book.
"Mate, no offense, but we have more important things to think about before we can sit down to read a book," Bunny added.
"Shh, I think he might have an idea," North said watching the Guardian of Dreams.
Sandy silently thanked North for not doubting him as he continued to search for the book. He finally came to a shelf, where his eyes finally laid upon a certain book spine, and quickly grabbed it before floating back down to his best friends. Once he was on ground level again, he confidently held up a green book, that looked to be a few years old, to North, who read the title…Dreams and Reality.
"You think there's something in here that can explain what Pitch did to Jack?" North asked.
Sandy smiled and nodded.
"Well, what are you waiting for, ya gumby?" Bunny asked. "Open it and read it."
Without further ado, Sandy did as Bunny asked and opened the book turning to the very chapter he was looking for. When he found it, he gave the book back to North for him to read.
North took the book and scanned the chapter absorbing every word on the page. The chapter was about 10 pages long, but it was full of information that the Guardians desperately needed. He smiled wide as he finally finished reading to himself.
"Of course, hyper-realistic dreams!" North shouted proud of himself that he understood the point Sandy was trying to make.
"Hyper-what?" Bunny asked.
"Hyper-realistic dreams, Bunny," North replied. "They are dreams that seem so real that it is hard to tell whether or not it actually happened when you wake up."
"So, it's like an illusion..." Bunny said as he started to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
"…or a hallucination!" Tooth added excitedly.
"Exactly!" North shouted.
"Okay, but…what does this have to do with Jack and Pitch?" Tooth asked as she crossed her arms and raised a feathered eyebrow at the Guardian of Wonder.
"Don't you see?" North replied. "This is why Jack is able to remember what we saw in his memories, and we can't. It didn't actually happen because it was a hyper-realistic nightmare created by the Boogeyman himself!"
Sandy floated up next to North and gave a double-thumbs up while nodding.
"But that doesn't make sense," said Tooth. She was inclined to believe North's theory, but as she remembered what they saw in Jack's memories, it was hard to not play the devil's advocate since they seemed to forget one important detail. "Jack couldn't have been dreaming. He woke up…walked around…flew to his lake in Burgess. Wouldn't he have jolted awake if he was dreaming?"
"Tooth's right," said Bunny. "If it was all in the little bugger's head, how did he end up in Burgess and in Pitch's lair without waking up?"
Still smiling, Sandy pointed at the Pooka and the Tooth Fairy nodded signaling he thought the exact same thing. Then he created a sandy image of a security camera and raised an eyebrow.
"Sandy's right," North said. "There's only one way to find out if we're on the right track. There are security cameras all over the Pole including the ones in front of the guest rooms. All we have to do is check the one outside Jack's room to see if he really did leave the room."
"Because…if he didn't…then that would mean that what Frostbite went through was just a dream!" Bunny added as it slowly became clearer to him.
"Yes!" North cheered. "Let's go to the security room!"
The four veteran Guardians ran to the Pole's security room, which was a fairly small dark room with screens that viewed every point where a security camera was installed in the Pole, including the one camera outside the guestroom Jack was in. There were two yetis sitting at the panel below the small screens keeping watch. It thankfully didn't take much to convince them to help North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy find the footage they needed.
"Alright, so in the memory, Jack left his room to go to the Pole to find me," North began as all eyes focused on one small screen that viewed the hallway outside the guest room. "That means that we need to see if Jack ever leaves the room before I went in to wake him up."
Bunny, Tooth, Sandy, and the yetis all nodded and turned their sights back to the screen. One of the yetis rewound the footage all the way back to when North and Jack went to bed the night before at midnight. When they got to that point, the yeti stopped rewinding and began the recording. They saw North closing the door before walking down the hall to his room disappearing off-screen.
"That's when North left the room," said Tooth.
"Fast-forward the recording, mate," Bunny said to the yeti. "It'll be an easier way to watch the whole thing."
The yeti did as he was told and turned the knob that made the footage go into fast-forward. None of the Guardians or the yetis dared to take their eyes away from the screen as the scene rapidly transitioned from midnight to early the next day, and it was a good thing that they didn't because they surely would've missed the one important detail they needed to solve this mystery. Jack never once showed up on the screen. A few yetis were shown walking past the door only because they were either patrolling the area or going to get a midnight snack, but that was all until North appeared again when he went to wake the boy up only to find said boy missing.
"That's when I went to his room this morning," North said as the yeti paused the video on him knocking on the door, "and I didn't see Jack appear on the screen at all."
"I didn't either," Tooth interjected while Sandy shook his head and the yetis garbled in response.
"Me neither," Bunny said, "but let's not jump to conclusions just yet, mates. We should watch it again to make sure we didn't miss anything."
North, Tooth, and Sandy nodded in agreement with the Pooka. As relieving as it was that their theory might've just been proven true, it was still too good to be true. They had to make sure that they really didn't miss anything, so the yeti rewound the recording and replayed it in fast-forward. Once again, the results were the same as the first time, but to be on the safe side, Bunny suggested that they should watch it one more time. They watched the recording again for a third time and came to the same conclusion… Jack never appeared on the screen at any point in the footage…
"Crikey…he really didn't leave the room…" Bunny said with his jaw dropped and green eyes widened. "So, that…that means…"
"It was just a dream!" Tooth shouted. "YES! I knew we would never betray Jack like that!"
"Klasno!" North shouted as he laughed and high-fived Sandy, who had a huge smile on his face.
"B-But, wait, wait, hold on a minute, mates," Bunny suddenly said as he suddenly realized something. "This still isn't adding up."
"Bunny, what are you talking about?" North asked. "You saw the tape three times! Jack never left the room! We never threw him out!"
"I know, North. I see and believe the evidence," the Pooka replied, "but you're forgetting something very important. If what Jack went through this morning was all just some nightmare Pitch created, then why was Jack missing this morning? How did he leave the Pole without anyone knowing and end up in Pitch's lair?"
North widened his eyes. Bunny was right! If this was a nightmare, then that would mean that Jack was asleep the whole time until he woke up in the Boogeyman's lair, where he was clearly transformed into the Nightmare Prince. So, if Jack was asleep the entire time he was dreaming, why wasn't the boy in his room this morning? How did he get to Pitch's lair?
"Pitch…" Tooth suddenly said. The three male Guardians turned to her in confusion.
"What, Shiela?" Bunny asked.
"Pitch…" Tooth repeated. "If he created the nightmare, then he must've snuck into the room through the shadows while Jack was asleep and took Jack while he was having the nightmare."
"That's right," said Bunny. "Remember how he popped in and out of the shadows at the Tooth Palace? That has to be how he got in and out of the Pole last night! Crikey, he slipped right through our fingers!"
North stared at the screen again in complete shock trying to digest what Bunny and Tooth just said. His heart began pounding as he thought about the Boogeyman sneaking in late at night and kidnapping the Guardian of Fun. Just picturing it was enough to churn the big man's belly. He suddenly snapped out of his trance when he felt Sandy tapping him on the leg. He looked down at the little man, who created a question mark above his head clearly asking if his friend was okay.
"Y-Yes, Sandy, I'm alright," North said before turning to Bunny and Tooth. "Come, let's get back to the Globe Room and figure out our next move."
"When I get my hands on that good-for-nothing, shadow-sneaking show pony," Bunny suddenly said through clenched teeth as he led his fellow Guardians back to their table in the Globe Room, "I swear I'm gonna…"
"Bunny!" Tooth shouted from behind cutting the Pooka off.
"What?!" the Guardian of Hope asked turning around to face the Tooth Fairy. "Pitch brainwashed our ankle-biter! I'm entitled to be angry, Tooth!" Before he could say anything else, he looked down when he felt someone tapping his leg only to see that it was Sandy, who pointed to something behind Bunny.
Bunny gave the little man a confused look but turned around nonetheless only to see that North was sitting at one of the windows of the Globe Room, specifically the one where Jack met during Sandy's funeral one month ago.
While North was relieved, he couldn't help but feel sadness and guilt mixed in as well. He was relieved that what Jack went through before Pitch turned him into the Nightmare Prince wasn't real, but that only meant that Pitch managed to sneak into the Pole to corrupt the boy while everyone was sound asleep. It was the only explanation, and that made North feel just horrible as he stared at the snowy landscape outside. His greatest enemy was able to sneak in and took the winter teen, who he loved as a son, right from under his nose to brainwash him.
"You okay, mate?" Bunny suddenly asked as he, Tooth, and Sandy came up to him.
"This is all my fault," the Guardian of Wonder said without looking at either of his dearest friends.
"North…" Tooth began.
"It is, Tooth," he said cutting her off. He didn't want any pity that he didn't deserve. "Pitch was here…inside my home last night and took Jack away from me, and I didn't even know about it. I could've been there. I could've done something to protect him, but I didn't."
"Oi, oi, stop blaming yourself," said Bunny. "This really isn't your fault. You didn't know that this would happen. It was completely out of your hands."
"I might not have known it was going to happen," North began, "but I could've prevented it."
"What could you have done, North? Watch Frostbite sleep all night?"
"No," North retorted while turning to face the Pooka, "I could've talked to Jack about how much he meant to me the minute he returned to the Pole, but instead, I decided to be a pathetic coward and to wait until today. I am idiot!" He sighed and put his face in his hand feeling another headache coming.
Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy stared at their saddened leader for a few moments before looking at each other. Sandy tapped Tooth on her leg and gestured to North silently telling her that she should try talking some sense into North. She nodded and flew over to the Guardian of Wonder and sat down in front of him. The Guardian of Memories gently took his large hand away from his face so that they made eye contact.
"North, why do you think that would've changed anything?" she asked with a gentle half-smile.
"Well, if he knew how much he meant to me, then when Pitch corrupted him, he probably would've seen that Pitch was lying and would've fought the influence," North replied.
Tooth sighed. It was hard for all of them to see Jack going through this deceit and trickery, but it was also hard for her, Bunny, and Sandy to see North watching Jack go through it. If what he told them about his bond with the corrupted Guardian wasn't proof of how North loved him as a son, then their conversation right now definitely was. He wanted so desperately to protect their youngest member from the Boogeyman just as any father would.
"I really hate to say this, but…I don't think what you were going to say would've changed anything," she said.
"Sheila's right, mate," Bunny said. "Think about what we saw in the bugger's memories. If you had gone ahead and talked to him, Pitch could've easily turned it around and make it seem like you didn't mean it like he already did with everything else you've told Jack for the past month. Trust us. You really made the right decision, and you are not to blame. Neither is Jack. Pitch is the one, who needs to be held responsible."
Sandy nodded and pointed to his head.
"Alright, you all make a valid point," North finally said. "None of us were able to protect Jack last night, but we can save him."
"And we will," Tooth said firmly.
"We just need to figure out how we can convince him that Pitch is lying," Bunny said, "and we're going to need solid proof because that ratbag really covered his tracks."
With a nervous look on his face, Sandy then created a sandy scenario of Jack waking up and getting out of bed and then a ticking clock. North, Bunny, and Tooth's eyes widened when they translated the Sandman's symbols. That dreamsand was going to wear off on Jack very soon.
"Well, it looks like we're going to play it by ear," North said as he stood up with Tooth. "Pitch's influence on Jack has gone on long enough. No matter what, this ends today."
Author's Note: Alright! Go get 'em, guys! Oh! Looks like things are going to get interesting in CHAPTER 15! BTW, the book that North reads isn't real. I made it up…just wanted to put that out there! So, anyway, that's all for now, guys! Hope you liked this one! Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks again, guys!