Jack wasn't thinking that it would be so awkward with the creator of everything was standing right in front of them. But the way his eyes scanned at the immortals made it seem as if he was judging them, and the winter spirit could see the insecure look in their eyes as Manny stared at them. But the more that Jack looked at the Man in the Moon, the more surprised he is that he looks the way that he did.
"Um, excuse me?"
Everyone stared at Jack, but it was only Manny that seemed amused. "Yes, Jack Frost?"
"It's just—" Jack ran his fingers through his hair nervously, "I wasn't expecting you to be like this."
To his surprise, Manny actually snickered. "I was expecting you to say that," he responded, a smirk dancing on his lips, "I'm probably only like this because I'm out of my element…strictly speaking."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, I'm in a weak state. I'm out of the moon. I have no home. Barely any power." He quickly turned from his regal state into being fragile, snapping his gaze away from Jack.
"You were probably kicked out by Ms. Mind-Control herself," Pippa stepped forward, crossing her arms.
"If by that you mean Oblivion, then yes," Manny looked towards the summer spirit, "How'd you guess?"
Pippa lifted her arm and pointed to the sky. A new orb was now in the sky, but hardly glowing brighter than embers. Streams of sand were shooting around it and only one detail struck out to them.
The orb in the sky was metallic blue.
"I think it's pretty obvious."
Manny stared at Pippa again, and shot her what would've been a death look. "Your sarcasm reminds me of Oblivion."
Jack had never seen the summer spirit so frozen before.
"Well then," said the white spirit, "I have to ask you all to help me. I need a way to get back to the moon, and—"
"Why?"
They all stared at Jack. Even though he was the winter spirit, they had never seen him look so cold.
"Why should we help you? I mean, you were the one who took away our human lives, and turned us into what we are now, aren't you?"
"To think, I was actually enjoying being a spirit! But no! You are a selfish, greedy man, who doesn't deserve your powers! I just wanted a normal, human life, and you've stolen it! Not only that, but I wasn't believed in for 300 YEARS! Nobody gave a damn about me until you told these four about how I needed to help save a bunch of kids!"
"Jack, what're you—"
"Save it Tooth," he said, eyes darting menacingly towards the fairy, "This is between me and the moon."
He turned back to Manny, feeling nothing but hatred and anger. Why did he turn him into Jack Frost, anyway? Why couldn't he have just picked some other teen that would share this burden? He never wanted his powers, and would wish that they would go away.
Although, they were good for something.
Jack lifted his staff, aiming it at Manny's heart and planning to freeze the white spirit.
Before the curved edge of the wood could touch him however, a stream of water from the lake shot out and snapped the staff out of Jack's hands. He almost went crazy trying to find it again, but the stream cut like a blade and sliced through something behind Jack.
What he didn't see was the path of blue sand leaving him.
Suddenly the feeling of anger and hatred left him, but that didn't make the winter spirit any better. He felt weak again, but was quickly surprised as he saw Pippa dragging her outstretched arm down and the stream of water following her move.
Jack's eyes met hers, and his breathing became heavy. "How did you…?"
"I—I don't know." Pippa was just as surprised as everyone else was. But out of her chest came a blinding light, and everyone could see Manny drawing something from her heart. When it had escaped it flew over to the white spirit's hand, looking like nothing except a ball of light.
"What is that?" said the summer spirit, surprised that that light was just inside her chest.
"This, my dear," said Manny, "Is Unda. Your star."
"Star?" the six spirits said in unison, and the moon simply nodded in their surprise.
"When I found out that Oblivion had out bits of herself in you four, I noticed that some of the powers that I gave you were blocked out by the pieces of her that were inside of you. So I gave each of you stars, so that maybe one day, when you really needed it, the powers that were blocked off could come back to you."
Everyone was in a silent shock as they stared at the star, which was bright and beautiful against the darkness of the world. But it was the four seasons that had received the most surprise from this one discovery.
"So, you're saying that I had powers over water this whole time?" Pippa said, and Manny did nothing but nod.
"WHAT THE FLIPPING HELL, MANNY," she screamed, running her fingers through her hair frantically, "ALL THE TIME THAT I WAS WITH YOU, YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ABOUT THE STARS?"
"Settle down, my dear," said Manny, and Pippa reluctantly stood still, "I only planned on telling you about the stars when you were going to need them the most."
"What does that mean?" said the spring spirit, asking the question that everyone had in his or her minds. But Manny didn't respond immediately. He just sighed, threw his hand up and sent the star flying off back into the sky. With his other hand he waved it out in front of him, an image appearing before the spirits. But it wasn't a moving motion picture like what Oblivion creates when she did this, just the image of the Memory Destroyer. But what scared Jack the most were the words that were emanating from the image. They were the words of the prophecy that Jack had heard in his dream, but the image was only echoing the last two lines:
There is no chance to end the fight
Forever a war with the universe's knight
The sound vanished instantly, but the words echoed in Jack's head and left him speechless. Why would Manny have to show them this?
But the winter spirit thought, and something occurred to him as he stared at the spirit that used to dwell in the moon.
"You're the universe's knight, aren't you?"
Manny looked back, and Jack was a hundred percent sure that he was correct.
But he was surprised when he saw Manny shake his head.
"No, I am not."
'Well, if you aren't," said Pippa, just as confused as Jack, "then, who is?"
There was absolutely no sound or noise coming from the spirits at this moment. Even the wind seemed to have stopped howling and all of the concentration was focused on Manny.
The spirit sighed, and then said softly, "Have you ever heard of Cael's altar?"
Nobody responded, and Jack could see that none of them knew what Manny was talking about either. The moon sighed again, and began to tell the tale that would probably change their lives.
"Before the birth of any of the seasons or guardians, there was a tale that fluttered around the humans. It was that of a spirit who used to haunt the Earth and create everything, and controlled the way the tide shifted and how the wind blew. They said that he was the son of the universe, which was why he was named Cael. They said that if good and evil were combined, then this mystical being would come up out of a giant marble altar and bring peace into the world."
"What do you mean, 'good and evil combined'?" said Pippa, and Manny stared at all of them expressionlessly.
"Look at the moon."
The all did, staring at the metallic blue streams of sand floating around it.
"No look at me."
They all stared at the brilliant white of his robes, face and hair. They didn't understand at first, but just kept looking back and forth from the blue orb and the white man until Jack finally realized.
"You don't mean—"
Manny nodded.
"Oblivion and I must unite our powers to create Cael and restore balance to the world."
"But Manny," said Tooth, speaking for the first time, "You said that the humans were saying that he was a myth. How are you so sure that it'll work, or even if he's real?"
She had a very good point, but what the moon spirit had said next blew her remark out of the water. He smirked, and stated, "Why, Toothiana, you're being awfully pessimistic. After all, before the fight with Pitch twenty years ago, you were also just a myth."
Tooth was completely silent, and just floated back beside Bunny.
"But there is something missing," said Manny, addressing the seasons again, "The spell will only work if we have all of the powers of each other combined."
"So?" said Leland, crossing his arms. He was being slightly pessimistic tonight as well.
"That was why I gave the four of you stars," said Manny, "Oblivion has a piece of herself inside each of you, and the stars were intended to counter whatever powers that she gave you. But who said they couldn't release them from you as well?"
