Author's Note: Wow, I got a few more reviews than normal for the last chapter! Thank you everyone! Enjoy chapter 14!
At seeing Pitch, all of the Guardians get into defense mode. Jack holds his staff up protectively, gently shoving Kaylee behind him; North holds his swords at the ready; Bunny takes out a boomerang and an egg bomb; Tooth, not having a signature weapon, flies up to the front of the group next to Jack, glaring at the Nightmare King.
"You know, Jack, I thought you'd learned your lesson about acting up, but I guess I was wrong. How did you manage to escape, anyway?" Pitch asks, managing to sound angry, intimidating, and curious all at the same time.
"Like I'd tell you," Jack says.
"Oh, playing it that way are we now? Fine, fine, but it seems that you're forgetting our deal, Jack. You help me out and I don't harm your friends."
"Pitch, the deal is off; I'm done playing your stupid games after you threatening Jamie and Sophie; I should have never agreed to this in the first place!" Jack shouts, letting his anger at Pitch take control of him. Pitch takes one good look at the fuming white-haired spirit and laughs, catching the other Guardians by surprise.
"Let me ask you something, Jack: Do you remember your nightmares? Do you remember what you fear? I certainly do, and I promise you that I can make all of those horrible things happen," Pitch says with a sadistic smirk. At hearing this, Jack stiffens, and he lowers his staff about an inch; everyone notices his sudden drop in confidence, but it just makes them more determined to beat Pitch; they wouldn't let him get away with threatening the youngest Guardian like that.
"Jack, what's he talkin' about, mate?" Jack doesn't answer, just continues to stare at Pitch, seemingly blocking the Guardians out.
"Tell me Jack, do you really want to make the people you love suffer through that? The Guardians, those precious believers of yours; oh, and that precious little spirit girl you've taken a liking to? Would you rather continue to fight by my side and salvage them, or do you want to fight by their side and know that you were the one who caused their absolute demise? I mean, kids may stop believing in them, but at least they would still exist if you were on my side Jack." Pitch smiles again as his words seem to make the Winter Spirit consider his choices.
"Jack, don't listen to him! Whatever he showed you was fake; he'll never get rid of us," Tooth says, desperately trying to get through to him. When he still appears lost in thought, she protectively floats in front of him, pushing him gently back just as he had done to Kaylee minutes ago. While doing so, she managed to study his face for a brief second, and she saw the genuine fear in his eyes. What had Pitch shown him in his nightmares that made him scared like this?
"Pitch, you monster, what did you do to him!?" she demands, furious. She had never seen Jack like this, and it worried her.
"Nothing much, my dear Toothiana. I just showed him what how things would turn out if he didn't want to work with me," Pitch tells Tooth.
"That's it!" she yells, finally losing her temper at the Boogieman. "Attack!" she yells louder, and on the Tooth Fairy's command, the Guardians all storm at Pitch; all except for Jack, who is still trying to figure out what to do.
Bunny quickly realizes that the Guardian of Fun is not with them, and, cursing, he hops over to him, quickly whispering in his ear, "Get the crystal back from Pitch, mate; I bet he has it on him somewhere, and Sandy thinks that they are the key to beating him. You and Kaylee have to do it." With that said, he dashes back into action, throwing egg bombs at the fearlings that Pitch is sending out.
Jack looks and sees that Bunny is right; he can see the ice chain of the necklace poking out of Pitch's black robe. He hesitates for only another moment, and then makes his choice to help the Guardians, despite Pitch's warnings; he'll just have to pay careful attention to the fight to make sure that Pitch's promises of gruesome fates don't actual become of them. Pushing Kaylee into the small room that the Guardians had just come from, he snaps into action, flying up and around the fighting Guardians, trying to makes his way to the Boogieman without being seen by him. Unfortunately, luck isn't on his side.
"Disobeying me anyway, Jack? Fine, have it your way," Pitch sneers after seeing the white-haired spirit trying to stealthily sneak up next to him from the corner of his eye. After saying that, Jack barely manages to dodge as the Nightmare King sends a wave of nightmare sand at him; it misses him by an inch. He turns to return an attack when he realizes that the wave of nightmare sand had turned into a huge nightmare horse that was now coming after him, it's eyes gleaming menacingly. Jack lets out a little yelp and hope that the other don't hear it, not wanting to sound weak in front of them since he had already embarrassed himself by freezing up in fear.
He flies swiftly away from it, but the creature speeds up and follows wherever he goes; he starts to worry a little bit, since Pitch designed his new staff not to be able to destroy the nightmares. "Jack, stop fooling around and just kill it already!" North yells as he watches Jack zoom all over the room trying to avoid it while it gets closer to him.
"Don't you think I would if I could!?" Jack shouts back, and the other all look confused but don't argue, too concerned with fighting off their own fearlings while Pitch just watches, highly amused at the angry, slightly scared, and ticked-of Guardians.
Although Jack tried to out-fly the dark creature, it soon caught up. Snorting with anticipation, it head-butted Jack's back after one final burst of speed. Jack screamed; he didn't know why, but it burned. The force of the impact sent him crashing into the wall, and he slumped to the floor, his head throbbing and dizzy, and his back still burning. As much as he wanted to just give up right then, he knew that he couldn't abandon the Guardians to fight alone, and he could hear them calling out to him as his eyes were starting to fully close, darkness clouding over his vision. Their voices were laced with sadness and concern, but they couldn't do anything to help him; they were still fighting their own battles. Jack wanted to just give into the pressing darkness; he knew that the pain would go away if he slipped into unconsciousness. He knew that he couldn't, though. He had a task to do to protect the Guardians, to protect Kaylee; to protect Jamie and Sophie and the other kids of Burgess; to protect the rest of the world from the cruel, merciless, fearful rule of Pitch Black.
And so, ignoring the pain and his growing tiredness, he opened his eyes, managed to focus, and with a sudden, slight burst in strength, he lunged at Pitch, taking him off guard and snatching the possession that rightfully belonged to him off of the Boogieman's neck.
Author's Note: Review please! I really like to read them!