Hello my friends and readers! I would like to say thank you to all of you who are reading this and also that I'm sorry it took so long to update. I am a day late but I was very busy yesterday. I am going to keep this top AN relatively short because I have a very important announcement at the end of the chapter.
I would like to thank all of you out there who have fallowed, favorited and reviewed the story thus far! Please keep up the good work I would very much like to know what all of you think!
As always I do not own Rise of the Guardians or The Guardians of Childhood book series. They belong to William Joyce and DreamWorks. I hope you all enjoy the chapter and be sure to read the important bottom AN!
You'll Never Know
Chapter 13: Silent Cries to Deafened Ears
Jack felt his blood go cold and then freeze as solid as steel while his chest tightened like an iron vice around his heart. He couldn't hear anything. He couldn't see anything. The world around him no longer existed. He was only able to register what was directly in front of him as time seemed to come to a complete and total stop. He couldn't think, and he couldn't breathe. His breath was strangled and died in his throat and for the briefest moment he thought he was somehow back under the frozen water of his lake.
Because there, standing not even ten feet away from him, was himself.
No...
Everyone remained completely and utterly still, all of them staring at the thin brown haired boy that was quickly walking out of the line of the snow-covered dead trees to follow the little girl in front of him.
NO…
The boy was laughing happily along with the girl who appeared to be his little sister if their similar appearances were any indication. His deep brown eyes sparkled along with hers and shined with childlike wonder. Only his eyes had something the little girl's didn't, they held a clear and far too familiar spark of mischief that nearly made the original four Guardians heart's stop cold.
"Common Jack you said you'd show me your new hiding spot for hide and seek today!" The little girl chimed happily, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet in excitement and making her older brother laugh.
No!
"Hmm are you sure?" The older boy said, tapping his chin with his finger as if in concentration and just barely managing to hold back a smirk. "I can't seem to remember saying anything about that."
The little girl, Emma, snapped her head around in horror to look at her big brother, disappointment shining in her eyes for just a fraction of a second before she saw the smirk on his face that he accidentally let slip and she smirked right back. The Guardians couldn't help but notice how her smirk was a perfect mirror image of her brother's as she ran towards the older boy and jumped.
Clearly he had either been expecting this or had just known what do to out of what must have been a strong habit and quickly caught the smaller girl in his arms, twirling her around in the air and making her squeal in delight.
NO!
"Yes you did! Yes you did! And you remember!" She sang happily as he spun her around. He laughed again before slowing down and carefully placing his little sister onto the snowy ground, only to have her instantly run around him and then jump onto his back.
Again he was clearly ether expecting her actions or was just very used to them (quite possibly both) and bent down just in time to catch her and hoist her onto his back where she could wrap her arms around his neck and hold on for the ride the rest of the way home.
"Alright! Alright! You caught me!" He laughed; admitting defeat at the hands of his baby sister and making her give an almost smug smile of victory. "A promise is a promise. But you missy, have to promise not to tell anybody about the magical new hiding spot that is sure to lead to many a victory in the war of hide and seek. Deal?" He asked teasingly up at the small girl on his back with a playful smirk and she burst into another fit of giggling.
Without even having to say a word the little girl quickly unhooked one of her arms from around his neck and reached it out in front of him, holding out her pinky finger. The older boy carefully let go of her with one arm and balanced her with the other on his back, raising his hand to wrap his pinky finger around hers. "I promise not to give away Jack's special hiding spot!"
Nonononononono NO!
The four oldest Guardians stood in petrified shock at what they were seeing, switching between being completely wide eyed and unable to blink, to rapidly doing so as if they were trying to banish the image of the mirage before them.
They all knew who this boy in front of them was, but they didn't know whether to believe it or not. And truthfully, a very large part of them didn't want to.
He was exactly the same. Except for the brown hair and eyes and the slightly less pale skin, every last bit of the boy in front of them was the winter spirit they knew. His eyes may have not been the bright, almost electrical, sapphire blue they had come to know, but it still sparked with every essence of childlike fun and mischief. His hair was a deep chocolate brown instead of a pure white but it was still the same hair. His skin was slightly less pale here and looked a bit healthier, but his face was still the same.
And the rest of it, the rest of it was exactly the same as the spirit standing next to them right now.
Everything from his laugh, to his smirk, to the way his eyes shined with that typical hellion attitude that practically screamed trouble and his teeth, that were still as white as freshly fallen snow, nearly made the Tooth Fairy fall out of the sky.
There was no denying it. No matter how much they may or may not have wanted to. This boy was Jack Frost.
All of them stared in curiosity, confusion, astonishment, and about a million other emotions none of them had the current time nor mental patience to place as they watched the boy who was clearly the winter spirit, yet also clearly not, walk forward with his little sister.
The Nightmare King was in a similar state, but not nearly as hypnotized by the situation playing out in front of him. In fact, he barely had the time to look at the two children for more than a few seconds before his eyes snapped back to look at the white haired spirit next to him. In that instant about 98% of his focus became strictly dedicated to keeping himself upright in the presence of the boy's fear and anxiety that seemed to be increasing every second until he may as well have been drowning in it.
Pitch had to hold back from flinching at the growing fear and practical raging hurricane of other emotions that were slamming into him hard enough to make his ears ring as they poured off of the boy in waves.
Half of him wanted to take a few steps back in any sort of attempt to lessen the sensation of the fear he was sensing from the winter child but he couldn't bring himself to move while knowing that if he did he may very well end up on the floor.
To the Nightmare King, fear was everything. Fear was his element, his power. Fear was who he was, what he created and what kept him alive. He needed it, he fed off of it, and he knew it as if it were a part of him, and it was. He was fear. He was the very personification of the shadows themselves and the horrid thoughts and dreams in the subconscious of every child's mind that came out to torment them with visions of their worst terrors when the night finally fell across the sky and the moon was hidden behind the clouds where it could do nothing to stop him.
Fear was everything he was, who he was, what he was. It was what he did and controlled and it had kept him alive for well over ten thousand years. He craved it, and it was what gave him life, power and purpose.
However, all that being said, and quite clearly repeated for emphasis, too much was just too damn much sometimes.
And what he felt radiating off of the winter spirit beside him was clearly crossing that line.
Jack stared on at the scene playing out before him with wide, unblinking eyes as his heart slammed painfully against his ribs and sharp, ragged breaths shot in and out of his lungs. His eyes were completely transfixed on the two children in front of him that were both laughing happily and remained completely unaware of his existence.
Disbelieving thoughts raced through his skull and tried to completely dispute what he was seeing, screaming bloody murder at him as he remained completely frozen in place. Every last one of them saying the exact same thing.
No! This isn't real! This can't be real! NO! None of this is happening, NONE OF IT! This isn't real! This isn't real! THIS IS NOT REAL!
His mind, his soul, and every other piece of himself was desperately scrambling to convince him that not a single bit of what was going on was real as his already staggered breathing began to grow harder and more strenuous with every word the two children spoke.
The gazes of the other Guardians locked on the human boy in front of them as their minds caught fire and did backflips were instantly forced away from the brown haired teenager to the white haired one beside them when they all registered the sound of heavy breathing. All of them collectively felt their hearts drop in to the pit of their stomachs.
The look on Jack's face was completely unreadable, but with absolutely no lack of expression. It was just changing too fast for them to be able to place, changing between states of shock, confusion, fear, disbelief and sadness that made their chests ache.
Two wide, blue eyes were locked onto the form of the small girl who was laughing and giggling happily as she was spun around again, completely unaware of the looks he was getting from the others. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real! There was no way this was happening. That wasn't her! That wasn't her…
But her laugh… Her smile… Her eyes… That was Emma. No matter how much he wished it wasn't.
"Excuse me!"
With that one line it was as if someone had suddenly stepped on a string of landmines.
Six sets of pounding heartbeats jumped into their owner's throats before plummeting down to the earth to come to a complete stop. Everyone's eyes instantly broke their locked gazes with the two laughing siblings in front of them and snapped to the smiling girl they had all but forgotten about when they had come face to face with a second Jack Frost.
It took less than a full second before the entirety of the situation crashed down on all of them as the girl began to run forward to meet the two other children from the other side of the clearing.
"Excuse me! Please wait!" She called, a bright smile on her face as she moved forward.
Toothiana's hands flew to her mouth as her fairies all looked away sadly. "Oh dear Lord no," she whispered, instantly understanding just what it is they were witnessing. Sandy, and North frowned sadly at the young girl, and Bunny's ears drooped slightly as he looked on in pity, having only just felt it happening to him earlier that day. Pitch looked on in seeming indifference but on the inside he did feel pity for the girl as well, knowing full well what it felt like after so many hundreds of years.
In varying levels they all looked on to the winged girl in pain and sympathy for what they knew what was about to happen.
However, as expected, it was Jack's reaction to the situation that was the most pained of all.
If the expression of the winter spirits face hadn't been in a state of horror before it certainly was now. Already wide eyes flashed with a cross between terror, pain, despair and so many other emotions it would have been impossible to place them all. No.
Jack's breath died in his throat as his lungs were strangled by an invisible hand that wrapped around his neck like a tightening nose. His hand gripped almost painfully around his staff and they trembled slightly from the unconscious strain of his tightening muscles with every step the girl took. No. No stop!
His heart couldn't seem to decide between either the pain of the harsh pounding or that of nearly stopping repeatedly as every second seemed to stretch on for eternity. Stop! Please no! You have to stop! They can't see you! Stop!
His mind screamed out unheard warnings as he watched the winged girl quickly approach the siblings who were completely unaware of her presence. The bright smile on her face stabbing into him like a steel blade as he realized what was going to happen and every ounce of guilt possible fell on him like an avalanche while his chest tightened around his heart.
Time seemed to move in slow motion as the three approached one another and the rest of the world became completely invisible as his senses were overrun by emotion and thoughts of panic that were screaming at the young girl to stop. His heartbeat pounded in his ears. Turn around! Turn around! You have to turn around please! Nonononono NO!
"Excuse me but could you two possibly tell me where I-"
"NO!" Jack stepped forward involuntarily from the others, reaching out as if to stop the girl as she ran directly in front of the two siblings, completely forgetting that she could not hear or see him.
And any prayers he had about this situation not escalating to where the guilt he was feeling wouldn't grow enough to consume him, went completely in vain.
It took less than a single second, and yet it felt like it had taken place over the course over a thousand years. One moment the winged girl was smiling brightly as she stopped in front of the approaching brother and sister and continued to call out to them, reaching up to try to make sure to get their attention so she could ask where she was.
But in the next second, the girl's smile suddenly faltered slightly for less than a second as the older boy seemed to almost ignore her as he kept moving forward, only to be replaced with a look of absolute horror when he walked directly through her.
The girl staggered forward in shock and fell to her knees as she grabbed her aching chest. Air came out of her lungs in quick, ragged breaths as if the wind had suddenly been knocked out of her. The girls head snapped back to look behind her at the boy who was retreating back into the other side of the tree line with his little sister, her eyes wide in fear and confusion as they shined with unshed tears.
"W-wait! Wait please come back!" She yelled.
The Guardians and the Nightmare King all watched with pitying eyes as the girl shakily rose to her feet and chased after him, calling out for him and receiving nothing in response to her actions.
"Hello?! Hello, please can you hear me I-" The girl cut herself off as she once more reached out to try to grab his shoulder, only for her hand to pass directly through him as if she were nothing but a ghost.
The building tears in her eyes finally begin to fall as the pained sensation of being walked through shot through her body like lightning and she ripped her hand away with a scream. She again staggered back and this time fell to her side as she grabbed onto her arm that felt like it had suddenly been burned.
"The poor thing…" Tooth looked down on the young girl sadly, her own eyes watering slightly at the small choked sob that escaped from the girl's throat as she looked back to the boy and his little sister as they left her behind and walked back into the forest. Her mini fairies still couldn't bring themselves to look at the child and simply bowed their heads sadly and all but two kept close to their mother.
Baby Tooth, still perched on Jack's shoulder looked up at him and her heart dropped at the pained look in his eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to try to speak right now while one of her sisters, oddly enough, seemed to be drifting slightly closer towards Pitch.
"Little ankle biter's not even a day old an already nobody can see'er." Bunny said, crossing his arms and lowering his eyes slightly along with Sandy and North.
"I cannot even begin to imagine vhat that little girl must be feeling right now."
"Fear."
The four original Guardians felt their eyes snap from the form of the fallen girl to Pitch at his sudden reply to North's words. He didn't bother even looking at them as he kept his eyes calm and apathetic as he looked down at the new spirit. "She's feeling fear."
No one had the heart to say anything to that, whether or not they wanted to.
The movement of the group's youngest member beside them brought all of their gazes over to the Guardian of fun. Jack's arm slowly began to lower, still outstretched towards the girl and frozen in place from when he had tried in vain to stop her until it fell limply at his side. Once more he didn't notice the stares of the others that were all locked onto him as he watched the girl raise her head to look at the backs of the two siblings as they disappeared into the trees.
A look of pain and terror was etched into the girl's face as she watched them leave, a small stream of tears trailing down her cheeks and her body trembled. Her thin arms wrapped around herself securely as she tried to banish the feeling of the ice that painfully flowed through her veins.
Her hand was pressed tightly against her chest that was heaving up and down from her ragged breathing. It was impossible to know for sure what thoughts were exactly running through her head at that moment. But it didn't take much to guess.
Everyone was startled slightly when the girl suddenly moved again, their eyes snapping back to her as she suddenly shot to her feet without warning. "W-wait… Wait! Wait please!" She called out for the two before darting forward after them.
They watched as she ran into the forest, leaving them and the snow filled clearing behind.
The original four Guardians all shared a look along with Pitch before looking back to the spirit of winter. The only one of them who hadn't actually watched the girl leave.
Jack was staring at the ground, his eyes unmoving along with the rest of him as if he had been frozen solid and all of the Guardians felt both concern and worry coil into the pits of their stomachs. Once more they all shared a look as if silently asking one another what they should do.
Honestly, none of them had any idea, especially considering they were actually stuck in a bit of shock as well.
But really, what could you expect from suddenly seeing the newest member of your group who, well, yeah they hadn't known him more than a few days but they were greatly hoping to change that. But suddenly, just seeing him walking around in someone's memory as a human? And that he had a sister?!
OK, one could only be able to handle so much dramatic chaos and freaking plot twists of life in one damn day whether or not they're immortal. There was a limit to how much could be taken and they were all about to fall off the edge of that very steep and dangerous cliff.
What next?! Cupid suddenly showing up to do a strip tease?!... Actually that wasn't a complete impossibility…
Bunny, North and Sandy all subconsciously shuddered at the memory of that New Year's party about 60 years back that had ended with Eros and about twelve other spirits half naked for various reasons in the globe room. As well as April Fool's being chased around by yeti security for spiking the punch with some kind of magic whisky that even the bloody Leprechaun wasn't able to handle without randomly doing the Macarena and then tangoing with a coatrack. It had taken months to find and destroy all of those pictures…
No one ever mentioned that night again.
However, that night had become the second most psychotic event any of them had ever experienced not even an hour ago.
No one knew what to say. Truth be told they probably couldn't even bring themselves to say anything even if they did. At this point they had all grown used to the climbing numbers of questions that were continually being dumped on them the entire damn time they had been here. However, this new set of questions at least had the chance of being possibly answered.
All of them had been someone before they had been chosen as Guardians. Or rather, before they became immortal if you included Pitch into all of this. However when Bunny, Sandy, North and Tooth had all been chosen, when the moon had given them the title of Guardians, none of them had actually, well, changed. No physically at least.
But Jack, he was different. It wasn't by much, but he was still different. Why had his appearance been changed when Manny chose him? And that was another thing that had actually crossed all of their minds before now. Even back when they had all first found out about the new winter spirit they had all severely questioned why the moon would choose someone so young to be in control over something so powerful.
Bunny of course had been beyond pissed that the kid had been made into a winter spirit and automatically decided that he was going to be trouble. He had nearly gone into shock when he had heard the news and a part of him had honestly thought Manny had lost his mind. He couldn't stop asking why he would grant some kid immortality.
North had said that Jack had something very special inside, and he had been right. He was a Guardian, he had more than proven that to all of them. But, that couldn't have been the entire story. There had to have been some other reason he was chosen, and at such a young age.
Jack's just a kid. He couldn't be more than 17 or 18 physically. He had his entire life ahead of him to live, so why? Why had Manny chose him to become a spirit? Maybe now they could finally find out the answer.
The spirit of winter was still looking blankly at the ground, still completely unaware of the stares of the others, his mind flashing back to that first time someone had suddenly walked through him when he had woke up from the lake. He had wandered into the nearby village that he had no idea had actually been his home and he tried to ask where he was, only to be walked through for the first time and run away back to his lake.
Once more he found these scenes flashing through his mind repeatedly, like a broken record as his heart ached with every memory he saw.
"Jack?" Everyone but the winter teen felt their eyes snap to the Tooth Fairy as she spoke. He didn't respond as she fluttered forward slightly and the male Guardians shared a questioning look, wondering if they should all be doing something but deciding to let Tooth proceed.
"Jack? Are you alright?" She asked slowly, approaching him slowly, though she and the others already knew the answer to the question.
Again, he didn't respond, even as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder and mover in front of him so he could see her clearly. She looked back to the others hesitantly, slightly fearful and unsure of how exactly she should continue when she slowly ran a hand in front of his face and he didn't even blink.
"He's gone into shock" Everyone quickly glanced at Pitch who was looking at the scene apathetically with just the slightest hints of irritation and… concern? His hands were loosely clasped behind his back as his eyes trailed over from the Guardians of fun to the direction the children had come and left by while choosing to completely ignore the looks he was getting from the others.
The Guardians who currently maintained the ability to actually move all looked at one another in concern for their youngest member before looking back to him. Tooth put her other hand on his other shoulder gently in yet another fruitless attempt to get his attention. She wanted to do more, they all did. In fact Bunny was half tempted to go and smack the kid upside the head if it meant he would snap out of whatever the hell kind of trance he was in.
However, they had absolutely no idea what his reaction would be if they were to attempt something or approach too strongly.
After everything they had seen and the small outbursts from the winter spirit that had taken place earlier they would be lying through their teeth if they said that they weren't at least slightly fearful of how Jack would respond.
It quite frankly could have been anything from him just suddenly snapping out of it and smirking at their dumbfounded reactions, to just brush it off saying he was fine, to him suddenly just breaking down and possibly passing out. None of them were expecting those reactions exactly but they honestly didn't know what end of the spectrum between the two Jack was going to come out at.
And they were more than a little nervous to see the answer.
None of them were able to tell just how long the tense and almost deafening silence that fell over them lasted. It could have been anywhere between five minutes to five years with how every passing second seemed to drag on for an eternity.
Eventually though, the silence did manage to come to an end as Jack was somehow finally able to force himself at least partially back into a coherent state of mind and was ripped back dizzyingly into reality.
"I-I…" Everyone startled slightly as the sound of the sudden cracked voice as he forced himself to speak and the eyes of the others widened slightly.
Jack forced himself to finally breathe again, blinking slowly out of the haze that had covered his vision as his hand clenched and loosened repeatedly around his staff. It did little to ease his nerves the usual feeling of ice and frost covering the twisted wood of was plainly missing but what little comfort it brought just being with him was a Godsend.
Everyone quickly glanced at one another as he attempted to form the words that were climbing up his throat almost painfully, but he was only able to form a few incomplete remarks. However those few words along with the look in the spirit of winter's eyes were still more than enough to make the other Guardian's hearts give a near audible crack.
The emotions shining in his eyes were like an open book to them all as his thoughts may as well have been announced through a loudspeaker. Pity, sadness, anger, and regret all made themselves explicitly clear, though guilt was the most prominent of all.
All in all the expressions in his eyes were more than enough to feel like a stab in the gut to each of the other Guardians, and then combined with the actual expression that was etched across his face was just a thrusting twist to the intangible blade that was piercing into each of them. The word 'heartbroken' was probably the only way to accurately describe what they were seeing.
"I-I never even…" Jack stuttered, still trying to choke out the words to keep them from suffocating him any longer as more and more memories of his 300 years of being walked through more times than he could ever count flashed through his mind.
It felt like your soul was being ripped out and then shoved back into you. But every time it came back, there was always another piece missing that never came with the rest of it. He would never wish that feeling on anyone and yet…
And yet he had actually walked through her…
"S-she wasn't… I didn't mean-!" He yelled, honestly trying to convince himself rather than anyone else at that point. He wasn't even able to fully register that there was anyone else. "I walked through her… I was the first one to ever walk through her…"
Tooth gasped, finally able to snap herself back into reality from the guilt infused shock she had been sent in as the full weight of exactly what Jack was thinking here slapped her and the others across the face.
The Fairy Queen shook her head rapidly and grabbed back onto the boy's shoulders that had flown to her mouth in surprise when he had first forced himself to speak. Her grip was firm but gentle as she pushed him back slightly so he would look straight up at her and she could make her point explicitly clear.
"Jack! Jack it wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known." She stated while wishing for nothing more than for that pained look to fall from Jacks eyes that was not meant to be seen in any sort of affiliation with the Guardian of fun.
Jack stared up at Tooth with foggy, unblinking eyes, just barely able to recognize the fact he was actually being spoken to before he slowly shook his head and dropped his gaze away from her.
"But I still did it… I was still… First one…"
Toothiana was about to open her mouth again to speak as the others began to move forward, all of them ready to try and explain that what they had just seen happen wasn't his fault. However, everyone was suddenly cut off before they could begin as a snort of derision suddenly broke through the air.
All eyes instantly snapped to Pitch who was currently rolling his eyes before meeting their gazes- glares, actually, from everyone but Jack- with a completely unimpressed look. "Oh lovely." He said sarcastically as he resisted the very prominent urge to roll his eyes for a second time.
"Now he's lost the ability to form fully coherent sentences."
Naturally his carefully worded statement was not exactly appreciated by the others. The four original Guardians glared daggers at the Nightmare King and North's hand instantly went to grab Bunny's shoulder to keep him from once again trying to knock the man into the next century via a right hook to his jaw.
Tooth's hands tightened slightly on Jack's shoulders as she fixed the Boogeyman with a look that was reminiscent to that of a mother bear towards a human who was stupid enough to try and pet one of her cubs.
"Pitch! Now is beyond not the time!" She snapped, all of her fairies matching her glare and once more Pitch found himself in a situation where any man with a weaker constitution probably would have dropped dead then and there.
However he possessed that constitution as well as the almost incessant need to piss people off.
Pitch simply met the woman's glare with a sneer that was on perfect par with hers. "No." He said plainly. "Actually, I believe it is the perfect time."
Before anyone even had the time to processes what was happening, Pitch stalked forward towards the rest of the group. North, once more seeing that this was most likely going to end in violence and potential homicide without intervention literally moved to hold Bunny back when he saw his eyes flash dangerously and was instantly informed him of his friend's murderous intent towards the Boogeyman.
Bunny let out a string of curses that would have made Davy Jones blush if he could understand Australian slang as he struggled against his friends hold and told him to let him finally finish the Nightmare King off. (Though in far more threatening and non-child appropriate words)
Sandy glared at Pitch, but none the less stayed out of his way, wishing to the moon above he had his sand whips at that time. Though somehow he had a feeling about just what it was Pitch was about to say.
Tooth's glare suddenly turned into a wide eyes look of shock and disbelief as Pitch approached and she was suddenly forced back to avoid him walking directly into her. "Hay!" She stated angrily, not having enough time to come up with a better response as she was all but pushed to the side and Pitch moved to stand directly in front of Jack.
He towered over the shorter spirit and all but glared down his nose at Jack who had finally been forcefully shot back into reality and was now looking up at the Nightmare King with wide, stunned eyes.
"Frost, listen closely because I am going to say this once, and only once. So I'm going to be speaking in as many simple words as I possibly can so that snow filled brain of yours will be able to understand." He stated and four pairs of glaring eyes suddenly went wide in shock. (Bunny's was almost instantly back at a glare though)
Pitch completely discounted all of the looks from the others and narrowed his eyes while crossing his arms before stating oh so gently, "You just walked through her." That single sentence was enough to both make the widened eyes of everyone narrow as well as finally push the Guardian of hope over the edge.
"Pitch! Shut the hell up ya bloody son of a-" However before the rabbit could dive headlong into another bout of strenuous cursing Pitch decided to once again just ignore the others and cut him off to continue speaking down at the boy who was looking up at him in stunned guilt.
"You had absolutely no idea that she was there and you walked through her. At this point there is only one thing you can do about it." He said simply before leaning down to loom over the winter teen and hissed.
"Get over it."
And cue the wide eyes looks of dumbfounded shock from all present Guardians of Childhood.
Once more Pitch straightened, backing off slightly simply because he knew that full on intimidation was not going to do much at this point and that despite the fact that the boy's anxiety and fear was like a fine chilled wine, there was a time and a place for everything. "You didn't know she was there, you couldn't have possibly have known so how is it your fault?" He stated plainly before raising a questioning brow. "Tell me, do you ever blame all of those adults or children who have ever walked through you?"
Jack's already wide eyes widened even more as he hastily shook his head. "N-no! Of course not! It's not like-"
"Like they can see you?"
Jack's voice as well as his jaw dropped like a rock as his mind almost instantly managed to processes what Pitch had just said. Tooth and North felt their glares vanish as they both shared a confused and disbelieving look while a small and almost impressed smile slowly etched its way onto the Sandman's face.
Bunny was still cursing.
Though he at least had regained the strength of will to be doing it in his head as North continued to hold him in place to keep him from snapping the Nightmare King's neck.
Pitch's unimpressed look remained firmly in place as he again had to resist rolling his eyes. "Now you're catching on." He said with just the slightest hint of mockery. "There wasn't anything you could have possibly done here Frost. No one was responsible for what happened, it was just an unfortunate accident that no one could have foreseen."
The unamused look on the Boogeyman's face fell slightly, though with a malicious smirk as Jack continued to look dumbfoundedly and slack jawed up at him. "Not to mention the fact that by the looks of it this situation seemed to have taken place hundreds of years ago, if seeing your equally as sickeningly happy human self is any indication."
Jack's jaw snapped shut with an audible click that nearly gave Tooth and her fairies a simultaneous heart attack at those words but he didn't have enough control over himself to glare, let alone retort as Pitch continued. "Worrying and feeling guilty about it now is simply idiotic and pointless, and while I know that thinking things through intellectually isn't exactly your forte'…."
Jack finally managed to glare.
"I must highly suggest that you at least attempt to see this bit of reasoning and move on so that we may all be allowed to leave whatever hell we are currently trapped in." He said as he continued to smirk, then added almost as if an afterthought. "However if your head is still too frozen solid to see my point then let me make one final suggestion,"
Jack's glare faltered as he looked up at Pitch in confusion before the Nightmare King suddenly turned on his heel away from the Guardian of fun.
"Make it up to her."
Those five little words were enough to make even Bunny's jaw drop into the snow.
"W-wait, what?!" Jack stuttered, his mind doing backflips as he tried to determine if he had actually just heard what he thought he just heard or if he was hallucinating… Or maybe Pitch was on drugs?
Pitch let out a loud, irritable sigh that sounded almost like a groan of pain as he paused and looked over his shoulder. "And now you are deaf as well as stupid." He spat as the last small bits of patience he had began to go up in smoke. "I said that when we get out of here, whenever we finally manage to free ourselves from this idiotic prison and seen whatever the demented cosmic force that must have brought us all here to see, then make it up to her."
Pitch quickly glanced at the others to take in all of their wide eyed looks of shock and disbelief at what they were hearing before looking back to the frosty teen. Normally, he would be amused and find the slack jawed looks of the others rather fitting, but at the moment they were just serving to piss him off.
Even more then he already was that is.
"Should you lot be able to go find that girl and save her before she manages to bleed to death or whatever it was that was trying to kill her manages to succeed, then make it up to her. I already know you fools are contemplating some sort of blind rescue mission," He once again straightened and looked forward before beginning to walk back to the trees in the direction the three children had run off in before snapping.
"So then add 'apologize' or whatever the hell you intend to do at the end of the plan, and let's get this torment of demented idiocy over with already!" And with that last line, the Boogeyman disappeared back into the trees, following after the memory of the winged girl and human Jack Frost.
The looks of the remaining spirits would have been utterly comical if the situation hadn't have been so serious… OK, never mind. It was still comical.
Five sets of jaws were hanging open along with those of the mini fairies as they looked off after the Nightmare King in dumbfounded and shocked silence. Sandy was surprisingly smirking at the situation, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Pitch knowingly as he vanished back into the trees.
North, Tooth, Bunny and Jack could all feel their minds staggering and shifting back and forth between gears as they tried to contemplate what the Boogeyman, of all people, had just said.
Time seemed to be moving at a painfully slow speed as they all eventually managed to regain a bit of their fine motor controls and all shared a brief look of shock, as if they were all mentally asking each other 'What the hell just happened?'
No one had a viable answer.
"OK," Everyone's attention suddenly went to Tooth as she hesitantly sputtered out the gist of what everyone was thinking. "Th-that just happened… right?" She asked as her eyes flickered back and forth from her friends to where Pitch had just been standing.
Once more everyone shared a brief look, as if silently confirming for themselves that what they had just seen was not some kind of hallucination and quite honestly not knowing if it would have been better if it was just that.
Jack stared off into the trees, still too stunned to be able to give any sort of response. His hand that had been in a vice-like grip around his staff was now slackened to the point where he nearly dropped the shepherds crook. However, just because he couldn't find a way to give the Fairy Queen any sort of vocal response did not mean that he was incapable of responding completely.
Without any word to the others he suddenly began to walk forward, following after the Boogeyman just as he had right after the Psyche had left them to watch the memories of her dying mistress.
This time everyone was still too stunned to say anything as the Guardians watched their youngest member vanish into the forest tree line after the Nightmare King. And that stunned silence only seemed to grow heavier as a single mini fairy suddenly shot after the two immortals without warning and caused Tooth to do a double take as at least part of her mind was able to focus on something other than Pitch's completely unexpected little speech.
Baby Tooth had just been perched on Jack's shoulder as he left so who…
If Toothiana had been any less of a proper role model for children or had been in any less control of her mind and actions she would no doubt have responded with 'OK seriously what the hell?' However she was in control of herself, she was indeed a proper role model and she was also a dignified queen.
So she kept her mouth shut.
One last look was shared between all of the Guardians before they all wordlessly came to the same conclusion.
Follow and make sure Pitch doesn't end up chewing on Jack's corpse.
Well, at least it was a plan. That was better than how they had been working lately. "Alright," Bunny suddenly muttered in irritation as he gained the other's attention and proceeded after the two.
"The first thing we do when we get outta here is go find the Sheila and help'er, and then we're gonna go an teach the bloody little show pony exactly what you're not supposed ta do with your mortal enemies." Following him blindly and without backup into a bloody forest currently being at the top of the list.
Tooth, North, and Sandy all silently nodded in agreement with the Guardian of hope, once again moving to follow the Boogeyman and the spirit of winter back into the trees of the forest and after the memory of the winged girl and a human Jack Frost.
Alright, Pitch Black is now the voice of reason. Normally I would say the world is imploding but I can actually see him saying that with no reserve. I think he's the kind of guy who would say what needed to be said and not bother wasting his time with beating around the bush, or, quite frankly, showing any sense of tact or decorum whatsoever because he simply has no f**** to give about other people's opinions.
And I find I can completely support this.
Oh! And did any of you catch this by any chance? 'as if the wind had suddenly been knocked out of her' Please tell me you people all saw the irony in this.
But anyway, as for the announcement mentioned before! OK, so this AN will be posted with every single story I update today (and the one story I had the time to update yesterday) I will be updating every one of my 4 stories by the end of today so if you read any of my other work then you will have already seen this or will be seeing it again. But anyway, I am writing this AN to apologize to all of you.
But I am afraid all of my stories will be going onto hiatus for the next three weeks until the first of June.
This is the last month of school for me and finals as well as final projects are currently getting underway. I need to have time to give all of those things my complete attention and focus for the next month until school gets out so that I can keep my 4.0 GPA through the entire year. I will also be hosting a Japanese exchange student for one of these weeks not to long from now and I wont have much time to write or post anything. On top of all of that I am also trying to apply for a job at my local preschool to work part time and am actually working on actual original stories I am trying to get published. (I write children's picture books/stories. I know right? You wouldn't really expect that with all the angst and crap I right would you? :P)
So anyways yeah. I'm really, REALLY sorry to all of you but until the first of next month I will most likely not be posting anything. Possibly something for the story 'Spirit -not so- Well High School' but probably not. :( I really am sorry and hope you will all understand. But I promise I will be back next month with all new chapters that will be awesome and will make up for my absence! XD
Until the 1st of June everyone! Please always remember: Never fight with idiots. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.
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