Title- To Do List Pt 4
Summary- The one where Jack has to save North.
Characters-Jack Frost, North, Bunnymund
Rating-T
Jack pushed himself off the ground and into a sitting position, his back resting against the glass so he couldn't see the two remaining Guardians; he didn't want them to see that he was worried he wouldn't have the strength to complete anymore tasks. Instead he faced Venus, studying her for the first time while she was busy getting his next task set up.
He supposed she was beautiful in her own right. Her hair was long, wavy, and deep brown that resembled roasted coffee beans. When she stood her legs looked about a mile long, slender and soft and hidden under yards of fabric. Her eyes were shaped like almonds, her hands had never seen real work, her feet were proportionate to her body, and her skin looked like the creamiest hot chocolate ever made. Yet through it all Jack could still see the eyes that were colored like a ridden on dirt road after a rainstorm, her nose that was definitely more Roman than Greek, and her ears that would stick out like an elephants if she ever pulled her hair back. Jack had always thought that she was better represented as a spirit of infatuation than love because quite honestly, she did not know how to love, only be admired.
There was a small layer of heat radiating through the thick glass that almost made Jack curious enough to turn and look but he knew that if he did he would not have the ability to go on, he would succumb to the pain and panic and that would be the end of Wonder and Hope.
On the other side of the glass North paced restlessly, looking for anything to smash in his frustration. He was a fighter and Jack was a child and somehow their roles had been reversed. Bunny was making North even more mad because the Guardian of Hope was just sitting here, his paw against the window near Jack's shoulder, not saying a single word. It was almost as if he didn't care.
"The game is really very simple, Jack," said Venus, returning to her throne. "See, all you have to do is survive. You have three boxes here and inside each box are several different objects with instructions attached to each. You just reach inside, grab an item at random, and follow the instructions on the card. Do that for all three and the fat man goes free."
"I think he prefers the term fluffy to fat," said Jack, pushing away from the glass and making his way painfully over to the three large boxes. "What did you do, raid a refrigerator store?"
"What?" said Venus, her head tilting to the side in confusion.
"Seriously, why do none of you spirits get out more?" said Jack, shaking his head. "You ruin all of my jokes by not understanding the simple things."
Venus chose to ignore him.
Jack reached into the first box and pulled out a 50 pound disk weight. For his size Jack was strong but looking at the weight made him question what could possibly be done with it. He set it down and read the card taped on the side written in elegant script.
"Drop weight on leg until broken," Jack read aloud before looking up at Venus. "You can't be serious."
"You don't have to," said Venus. "You can stop any time you like, it's your choice."
Jack sighed, raised the weight above his head, and threw the weight onto his extended left leg as hard as he could. He heard the sickening crack before he felt the pain but when the pain came, it came in earnest. He didn't even want to look at the mess he knew his leg would be in but the weight resting on top of the broken bone was only making it worse, so he bit his lip, got a grip on the edge of the metal disk, and flipped it off his leg.
"Next time, I get to pick the game," said Jack through clenched teeth.
He concentrated for a second and sent a thin stream of frost to his broken leg too cool the burning sensation enough so that he could move on to the next box. In that box he reached over his head so he wouldn't have to stand and pulled out an object at random for his next task.
"A flat iron," said Jack, inwardly groaning. "Come on! Don't tell me you don't know what a refrigerator is but you know what a flat iron it? You're impossible."
"Just read the note so everyone can hear it," said Venus, an evil smile tugging at her lips.
"It's already hot, just put your hand in the middle and close it until Venus says to stop," read Jack.
He didn't pause this time, he inserted his right hand and closed it with his left. As the heat warmed his perpetually cool skin, Jack looked up at the ceiling, counting in his head.
"How's that feel, Frost?" taunted Venus. "I can smell your cooking flesh from here."
"You know Venus," said Jack, his eyes glued on a rafter, voice tight but loud, as if speaking louder would drown out the pain. "You begged me to take you away, fly you to the moon or stars. You promised me Broadway shows and lit Christmas trees, countless 'I love you's' and all I had to do in return was give you the power of winter. You said that only you'd love me but I swear that I'll never find love in you. You played your piano, sang out each word, and when you were done you demanded a love song of your own, do you remember that?"
"Of course I remember," hissed Venus. "But you arrogant brat, you refused."
"You had tied me to a chair," snapped Jack, ripping his eyes from the ceiling to look right into her soul. "I was never good at songs but I can make you a poem now. Here goes.
"Your eyes are like sludge at the bottom of a sewage tank, your skin the color of sour milk, your hair-oh your hair- like burnt spaghetti, little nubs cut close to your lumpy skull. Your ears remind me of bass fins, your nose of a smashed potato. Move south to your shoulders like blue cheese melting in the sun, freckles the size of bologna and just as mysterious. Your belly button, that sign of life from your mother, if you had a mother, is like an ocean garden, green fuzz like coral creeping out to spill into the mesh of hair the texture of dry seaweed, a trail that points down to mashed pea like hips. Shall I go on? But those peas lead into stripped chicken legs down to chewed tennis ball knees, past wooden calves, and to your feet, those two large eels snaking out to trip others, sliding you into place. Oh how I love you more than I love getting cavities filled or passing kidney stones. I love you like I love finding squirming white maggots in my undercooked steak."
"Stop it!" screeched Venus, standing up. "Stop it this instant."
"As you wish," said Jack, eyes narrowed as he let go of the flat iron and let it clatter tot eh ground next to the weight. He hand was bleeding severely, his feet burned, his skin felt unpleasantly warm, his leg radiated pain, and he still had one more job to finish before North was free.
With his good hand he reached up and pulled out the final object.
"It's an ice skate," said Jack dumbly, staring at the old fashioned metal blade in his lap. "What, you want me to go skating?"
"Read the card."
Jack stared at the letters that seemed to swim on the page, never staying still long enough to form real words. Blinking profusely then staring at the paper, Jack finally made the letters behave and forced them into words.
"It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt," read Jack, his voice flat. "Cut your arm to make it hilarious."
Venus began laughing, collapsing in her throne, holding her stomach, tears streaming down her face, belly laughing as if Jack had told her a funny joke.
"That's sick," said Jack, the ice skate already on his right arm above the bleeding hand.
"Come one Jack, show me the fun you guard so closely," giggled Venus.
Jack shook his head, took a deep breath, and ran the blade across his arm, watching as a thin line of blood bubbled up from the shallow wound. The skate clattered to the ground and Jack just stared at the blood as it began to run down his arm. He didn't hear Venus taunt him, he didn't hear North yell in fury before disappearing, his entire focus was on one sickly stream of red that ran from his arm leaving a strained trail across his snowy skin, pooling together at the end like a tear drop before diving off his arm to the ground to land with a noise that drowned out the rest.
"Last task," said Venus. "Bunny's turn."
*Hello! So I was looking at the requests today because I feel really guilty about indulging in such a long arc when I know I have a bunch of requests to do and I realized how insanely far behind I am on requests! I promise you all that I have every single request written down on a document in the order in which they were made and I will write every one of them, so if I haven't posted yours yet I haven't forgotten, it will get posted, I promise. I was going to post a request instead of this chapter but everyone voted for North's task.
This arc will be over shortly. Only Bunny next! Anyone excited about his?
As always, I love hearing from you, thank you for the support, and requests are welcome. Always-Ari