CHAPTER 14 Hunt For Nightmares

Of course it had been going too good so far. Of course Jack had overlooked something simple. How Jack had forgotten it, he had no idea, but he had. And now he felt horrible because of it. All because of a simple question.

"What happened to my Nightmare?" Pitch had asked. Jack would have tripped had he not been floating on the wind. Bunny's steps had faltered, but otherwise no one had said a word for few moments.

"It… Jokul… It wasn't fast enough to escape Jokul's blizzard", Jack explained, remembering clearly the frozen black spot on the ground, just as Bunny had closed the opening. It was sad, how everything that was left of the beautiful creature was flakes of sand, mixed on the ground of Bunny's Warren. The silence dragged on, until Jack realized that even Pitch's footsteps had ceased. Jack stopped too and turned to face the way they'd come.

"It… wasn't fast enough? It froze?" Pitch asked with blank voice. Jack nodded anxiously. Even Bunny had stopped to listen. Pitch seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before he stated with that flat tone: "I need to get to the surface." Bunny exploded.

"WHAT? Ya got any idea what it's like out there? No doubt he will be looking all over for Jack! Bloody hell, he's looking for all of us, and we just escaped from right under his nose and you want to go out there to rub it on his face?" Bunny snarled and approached them with heavy steps. Pitch didn't back off, by the sounds of it. Actually, Jack was sure he was standing straight in his full height with that arrogant look on his face… Jack was right, of course, not that he would ever really know it.

"I need my Nightmares back with me", Pitch stated simply and Jack cut in again before Bunny could.

"Why?" Jack asked curiously. Jokul wouldn't be interested in few sand horses would he? But then Jack could feel Pitch's eyes on him.

"Why? Well now, tell me Jack, what would you do when the only spirit capable to actually replace you would bust in your own domain with another spirit and then escape from right under your nose. Then you manage to corner the spirit who you are sure you could use to lure out or hurt the one who is supposed to replace you and again he escapes with the help of the mentioned spirit. And by the time you've finally learned that other spirit's identity and connection with the truly dangerous one and realize that the spirit is actually weak at the moment and the only thing you need to do is to cut his final connections to his source of power. Tell me Jack, would you not absolutely go after the only thing that gets you a little closer to catching the evasive spirit that is supposed to replace you? Would he not go after my Nightmares in attempt to wipe me from his map?" Pitch was almost seething by the end of his rant and all Jack and Bunny could do, was stand still in stunned silence.

Jack hadn't realized just how much in danger Pitch had been since Jack pulled him in on his plans. Well yes, he knew there would be some danger, but for Jokul to start hunting Pitch just because Jack was always in run and hiding… Jack felt sick. He'd done this. It was his fault Pitch had been stuck in his lair for so long. His fault… Even if Jokul wouldn't be going after Pitch, even if the Nightmares wouldn't be in real danger out there, it made sense for Pitch to want to keep them close where he could keep track of them, and even Jack knew that in his weakened state, keeping track of them from the Warren and North's workshop would be nearly impossible. They would be too far away and the magic protecting and keeping the workshop and Warren hidden would interfere. So if the finding the Nightmares would provide even a little bit comfort for Pitch, Jack felt like it was something he needed to do.

"I'll go get your Nightmares", Jack stated. It only took few seconds before both Bunny and Pitch started arguing back, but Jack ignored them.

"You're not in really good shape Pitch, you know you won't be able to out run him. I'm fast enough and by now I should be… I am strong enough to fend him off. So I'll go get them while you two will get to North's", Jack said and there really was no way to argue with him when he had that look in his eyes, both of the older spirits knew. And just like that, it was settled.

-O-

Flying over the Atlantic gave Jack a lot of time to think it seemed. All he had to do was to follow the bizarre Nightmare with gray sand grains mixing in its black mane. It had taken Jack almost a day to find it, but after he finally had found it, it seemed confident in leading Jack to the other Nightmares. Or so Jack hoped anyway as it was yet to be proved. The Nightmare was headed to the right direction in general at least, so Jack opted to just follow it. After all, Pitch had simply told him where to find the first Nightmare, so Jack assumed he would have some other way to track down the rest of them.

Jack was shaken from his reverie as the Nightmare descended to a softer wind, closer to the water. Few stray drops from the wild waves splashed against Jack's face, so he lifted himself little bit higher and closer to the Nightmare. He then gazed down at the waves. He just couldn't look at the water the same way after meeting her. Ever since he had remembered his drowning, Jackson Overland's death, he had already been wary of water, but after meeting her… It was worse. Jack briefly closed his eyes, still hearing the dripping of the water echo in his ears. At least he had gained something from the months spent at the small town at the coastline in Britain. When all the winds reaching Jack were still just salty sea winds, he let his mind stray into those memories, hoping to distract himself from the fact that he was flying over very, very, deep water.

-O-

It had been soon after he had left the North Pole, after informing the Guardians of what he had seen in the Winter Palace. Jack had needed something to force his mind from Pitch. Pitch who hadn't been able to follow after them from the Palace… Pitch whose Nightmare had been frozen, denying the possibility of swift escape. Jack had, with few guiding words from North, decided to get more knowledge about their situation. Or rather, how Jack could overcome it. North told him to go look for Antero Vipunen, if he was looking for wisdom. It was the first time Jack had heard of the spirit and playfully took to calling him the ant-man, as North revealed him to be a giant who had supposedly taken to lying beneath the ground, mostly sleeping, thus he was not very widely known.

It hadn't been hard to find him, though Jack had been nervous to go so close to Jokul's territory. And it had been pretty much in vain. While the giant had been somewhat intelligent and wise, Jack soon realized it wasn't what he was really looking for. And the bloody thing had tried to eat him! Yes, eat him! No wonder Jokul hadn't gone after that spirit yet, Jack's frost seemed to have close to none effect at all on the giant. It had, however, given him however vague advise on what to look for. A teacher.

That was how Jack started to look for other elementals or weather spirits. Unfortunately, it had seemed like Jokul had been few steps ahead of him. The weather spirits were hiding and even the most powerful elementals were either missing or had isolated themselves, shielding themselves with their powers. Except for few fire elementals, like the Salamander, Jack came to know. But Jack deemed it wise not to wander too close to those. He was, after all, winter spirit. And ice and fire… Don't really mix. As the Salamander proved on their brief encounter. Really, it was just a coincidence that Jack came to find her. She wasn't a weather spirit and not exactly an elemental either, but she had known exactly what Jack needed.

-O-

Jack had been flying along the coast line of the Great-Britain, not really headed anywhere, just wandering around and trying not to attract attention. He had heard children's laughter and stopped to listen, when the wailing had carried over. It wasn't exactly the wailing that caught his attention though, it was the fact that no one else seemed to hear it. It was bizarre, hearing someone in pain while others were joyfully playing close by. So, curious as he was, Jack went to find out. He had found a woman. She had been crying, sitting on a rock in the midst of the waves. And when Jack had looked closer, the waves, no, the sea had seemed to be crying with her.

Jack had perched on a pole sticking from the dock and watched. He still couldn't be sure if she actually was a spirit of just a human with long, long black hair in very little clothing. And completely wet. No wonder she was crying in that weather. Not long after he had settled, the woman had lifted her dark eyes and looked right at him, finally letting her wailing trail off. They had stared at each other for few long moments, before she had slipped off the rock and vanished into the sea. Jack had tried to call for her, but she didn't come back. Not until the next morning that is, when Jack found her back at the village, following in the footsteps of young fair haired male running around the village for some reason Jack didn't bother to find out.

When Jack had approached her, she hadn't even looked at his way and didn't answer to any of his inquiries. It was only three days later, when she finally actually looked at him with her sad and tired eyes. That was when Jack had finally learned her name and that she was indeed a water spirit, or rather, a sea spirit and so Jack had stuck around. She had been hesitant to help him, but in the end, she started slowly explaining things to him. Or teach him, whatever. It was different for her, but she knew the basics, she knew how to get in touch with your element, how to control it. And most important of all, she knew what it was like to have your powers divided. She had many sisters after all, all somewhat the same. But most of them had returned to waves they had been formed of and only very few could be seen even by spirits. Well, she referred to them as sisters, but Jack gathered them to be more like children, born from her magic, since she was the so called "original" one. And that was when Jack decided that he did not like the story, legend, behind Undines at all, least of all, the story of Ondine.

Jack snapped himself from his memories as he came close to colliding with a ship and had his feet wet. Startled, he froze the water clinging to his feet and let the thin ice cover shatter off. He closed his eyes, most certainly not wanting to remember the feeling when his feet had last been wet, when the water had gotten higher and higher, and it had been dark, the sound of waves crashing and the constant drip, drip, drip… The Nightmare snorted and brushed against his side and Jack felt like he could breathe again.

-O-

Two days later, Jack was already regretting his choice to go after Nightmares. Yes, two days. He had been so sure it wouldn't take more than couple of hours. Pitch said there were six Nightmares, well, yes, Pitch didn't tell him that each of them were on their own continents. Jack had finally managed to gather five of them and was headed to Asia for the final one, but whoever said herding five Nightmares with you over the sea was easy had clearly never done it him or herself. Not that Jack had ever heard anyone say that. Still, one just couldn't press it enough how much of a pain it was.

"Hey, hey! Play nice over there! And you! Live those fishers alone, would you?" Jack scolded as one of the Nightmares brushed past couple of fishers that had settled on sitting at a dock. The Nightmare whinnied and trotted past them. Jack sighed.

"And you, where to now?" he asked the one particular Nightmare that had, for some reason, a little bit more gray in its mane than the others. It had been the very first Nightmare he had come across somewhere over Manhattan and that had taken to guiding Jack to the next ones. How it knew where they were or that Jack was supposed to fetch them, Jack had no idea, but he wasn't complaining. It made this all a whole lot easier. The Nightmare snorted and galloped higher into the air, briefly glancing behind to make sure Jack followed, which he did. After herding the other Nightmares to follow too, that is.

It was refreshing, Jack had to admit. Jack had spent most of the summer staying at couple of places, mostly still. Being able to soar through the skies across the world… Jack didn't know how to describe the feeling. He hadn't even felt the presence of Jokul Frosti's winter magic thorough the two days he'd been flying around, not even when he had visited the northern Europe, however briefly. Speaking of winter… It seemed they were reaching the Northern parts of Japan, when the Nightmare leading the way finally started to slow down and head for the ground.

The cold wind ruffling his hair should've been enough to alarm Jack, or if not, the wind. At least the thin cover of snow on the ground, even if it wasn't that late in the winter just yet. And Jack certainly hadn't been spreading winter beforehand. For some reason, Jack didn't take note of it though and so they continued their peaceful, well, as peaceful as it got with five Nightmares running around, descent towards a small village in a snowy valley.

-O-

"Hey, what's your problem?" Jack asked angrily after being almost stomped down by the newly found sixth Nightmare. It just wouldn't stay still. It was like an incarnation of ADHD. It whinnied again and trotted around Jack, head held high. Jack felt his eyebrow twitch and resisted the urge to just freeze the damn thing and take off. Pitch wouldn't be happy about that. And Jack doubted the girl whose room they were in in would be happy either. While he was counting the pros and cons of freezing the Nightmare, it bared its teeth at Jack, as if guessing what he was thinking about. It then slipped past him to get to the girl sleeping on her futon. Golden sand was dancing above her head in the form of… books? Jack felt sorry for the girl, before his attention was caught by the black sand creeping on the golden grains.

"Oh, no you won't. No snacks for you", Jack growled out and leaped forward, hooking his staff around the Nightmare's neck. The Nightmare let out a high neigh and pulled hard, trying to get Jack's grasp on the staff slip. It didn't though, and Jack managed to pull the sand horse with him all the way across the room to the window sill, before stumbling and almost falling. The Nightmare had let its neck dissolve momentarily, making the staff slip through. Now that Jack hadn't seen before. While normally it would've made him curious and excited, now he just felt like banging his head against a wall. Hard. Before he could go through with his urge, though, a cold breeze passed through the open window, making chills run through Jack's back.

"That wasn't mine", Jack muttered as he turned to look out of the window, only now taking a note of the snow. The Nightmare behind him sniffed the air before snorting and coming up from behind Jack to push on his back.

"Oh, so now it's okay to leave?" Jack asked bitterly, but didn't waste any more time before jumping through the window with the Nightmare close on his heels.

Jack felt like he was biggest idiot in the world as they made their way through the small town. The whole valley was covered in snow and Jack certainly hadn't been the one to spread winter early. Besides, now that he was actually paying attention, he could feel the different winter magic building up around them, making him anxious. He picked up his speed as he caught a sight of the five Nightmares he'd left at the edge of the town. He wanted to get out of the valley and the continent as soon as possible. The Nightmare with gray mane noticed them first, rising its head and whickering loudly. The others were moving nervously around, trotting in circles and stomping the ground. Clearly they didn't like the change in the weather either.

The wind started to pick up its pace just as Jack had and the helpful Nightmare had calmed the others down enough to take their leave. It was picking up snow and blowing it in their eyes, but Jack didn't dare to try and shield them from it. He couldn't be sure if Jokul Frosti actually knew he was there, and the Nightmares were his top priority at the moment. He'd have to get them to Pitch safely and as soon as he could. So while it would've been fairly easy for Jack to push away the hostile wind or out run it, he had to keep the Nightmares close as well as stay undetected. So he let the wind and snow rage around them as they made their way away from the small town. It was only then that Jack actually realized that they were going wrong way.

"Shit!" Jack yelled as he turned to look behind them. The snow was blocking his vision almost completely, but he could clearly tell that they were being herded. The Nightmares flocked around him, whinnying nervously, but staying close. For a moment Jack was surprised, but glad, before it was wiped away by horror. The wind picked up again, and now Jack could clearly tell apart the hostile magic in it, bursts of cold air blasted around them and Jack realized two things. One: Jokul didn't know he was there, or the attack would be more straight forward and more forceful. And two: Jack would have to make himself known if they didn't get out of the blizzard soon. The magic around them would soon be enough to freeze the Nightmares, and Jack couldn't let that happen. Jack turned around and with new determination he willed the wind to pull along the Nightmares as they fled.

They didn't get far though, when Jack felt a cold, cold wind brush past him and hit a Nightmare on its side. It let out a high, pitiful neigh, before it started to fall.

"No!" Jack yelled out, but the words were lost in the wind. Without thinking, Jack sped after the fallen Nightmare and the five others came behind him, panicking, but trustful. They hadn't been flying high, so it didn't take long to reach the Nightmare lying on the ground, its left side crystallized by ice. Jack stumbled on the ground, hurrying to the Nightmare's side. Clearly, the magic hadn't been enough to make it dissolve and freeze, but the ice was quickly spreading… Jack had no idea what to do. All he could do was watch, remembering the black spot of ice that had fallen on the Warren behind them, when they had fled the palace and left Pitch behind.

The Nightmare with the gray mane galloped towards them and reared as it got to their side. Its hooves were uncomfortably close to Jack's face, but then it struck them down on the frozen side of the Nightmare. The ice shattered into pieces with grains of black sand inside them. The gray mane Nightmare snorted before pushing against Jack, as if telling him to hurry. Jack followed its lead, but glanced behind them again, wondering what would happen to the rest of the Nightmare, just to see the unfrozen sand dissolve and reform into a smaller Nightmare horse. It reared before running after them into the air. Jack would've liked to stay and stare at it for a while longer, but a particularly violent push from the wind reminded him of the danger around them.

Really… This was hopeless. They had no way of getting out of the valley in time, the mountains surrounding them were high and every inch they had to ascend would take too long. Jack would be lucky to get even one Nightmare out of there in one piece. Now desperate, Jack willed the wind to carry them faster, but it was already getting weaker. The blizzard around them made it hard to even breathe, not to mention see. One of the Nightmares whickered loudly then, its voice only barely carrying over the wind. Next thing Jack knew, was him being pushed to another direction by one Nightmare, while the others kept close to them, changing their direction as well. But Jack no longer had any idea what was going around them, he was blind, and the wind was too weak to guide him. Jack had to trust the Nightmares with this. He was getting desperate. So he pulled on his powers and let it build on his staff, before releasing it in a blast.

The hostile wind died around them. The few snowflakes that avoided being blown away glittered in the moonlight. Jack's wind grew stronger again, adding to their speed. And Jack could finally see the pass way between the mountains. It was more like a crack, really. But it had to be enough. The entrance was covered by a stack of rocks that Jack assumed had been brought by a mudslide. It wouldn't prevent them from passing through. But the moment of peace was over and the raging wind came back more fierce than before. Jack's breathing started to steam, and the packed snow cut into his skin. If it wasn't for the Nightmare galloping beside him, he wouldn't have had any idea where he was going.

Then they were in the pass way, and the wind eased down, if only a little. They didn't let their pace slow down though, if anything, they sped up. And as suddenly as they had come into the crack, they came out. The blizzard had been left behind, at least for now, and Jack could see. They were in another valley, a lot smaller than the one where the town had been built. There was a huge shrine in the back of the valley, with a garden surrounding it. It didn't look like anyone had visited the place in a long time, but still… It looked like it was looked after. They were just flying over a torii gate… and the wind disappeared from beneath Jack.

-O-

Jack didn't scream, nor yell, and he would've been very proud to state that fact, if it wasn't for the squeak that escaped his lips as soon as he started falling. Then he was already lying on the ground, groaning in pain.

"Oh, damn that hurt", Jack muttered as he lifted himself from the ground, looking up where he could see the six Nightmares looking down at him. He blinked. Just what just happened? He had been just fine, but then the wind had just disappeared… But that couldn't be true. The Nightmares were still in the air, just looking, as if they couldn't get past…

"Dare?" A voice sounded from behind him and Jack quickly spun around to face the speaker. Well, as quickly as he could, as he was still half lying on the snow. In front of him now stood a guy with long white hair and with huge white wings on his back. Jack could tell they were white even without seeing colors. Surrounding the man, who couldn't be more than 30, was a warm brown glow, confirming that he was indeed a spirit.

"Anata dare?" the man asked again when Jack just continued staring. A frown appeared on his face as he gazed down at Jack.

"Err, what?" Jack asked, puzzled. He wasn't speaking English, was he? Or Jack had hit his head worse than he thought. The man's frown deepened and he reached his hand down, brushing his fingers against Jack's forehead. Surprised, Jack scooted backwards.

"I said", the man said "who are you?" Jack blinked. So he did speak English? Then what had that been before? And then Jack felt like hitting himself. He was in Japan, of course people, and spirits, spoke Japanese here. ...right?

"Uhh, Jack Frost, nice to meet you?" Jack flashed his usual cheerful grin.

A/N

Straight to the explanations we go!

Antero Vipunen Any Finns over there? I'm expecting you to recognize this name here. He's from Kalevala anyway. For those who don't know what it is, it's like... Uhh, Finnish folk tales? I'm not sure what to call it in English. Anyway, Vipunen is a giant Väinämöinen went to, to inquire about a spell he had partially forgotten/didn't know. Vipunen ate him and Väinämöinen lit a fire in his stomach (or just hit him really hard) to get out. And he did acquire the spell he was looking for. And I included him because... I'm not sure. Finnish pride? I considered Athena or Toth, but... neh. Bear with me.
Undine/Ondine A folk tale from.. Ireland I think? I've just mixed up lot of different versions for this one. Undines though, are mostly associated with Greek mythology and nymphs. More about them later though.

And yes, Jack is in Japan. Why? There's a creature there I wanted to include and had an idea for. The little culture I've involved may not be right, but they're spirits so does it really matter? *cough*yes it does*cough*. So, um, futon is this mattress kinda thing you lay on the floor when you sleep and roll away when you don't?
Anyway, while reading, bear in mind this is for enjoyment and not for education. Mostly. :3

Next: Jack gets a nice dream.