Fighting Darkness, Loving Frost
Hello again guys! Like I said, it's summer so I have a lot more time to work on this story! Like, right now, starting on this chapter, I'm sitting down outside with my computer on my lap instead of running around the front yard. OH WELL! XD
Since I didn't get the required five reviews or PMs about the interviews (or any, for that matter) I made it into a poll. It is a live poll so you can see the results at all times, and it should be accessible on my profile page. Should being the key word. Like I said before, I've never done one before so... yeah! Unless things don't go according to plan (I can't get on that day, not enough people have voted, yada yada) I will be closing it July 30th. SO GET YOUR VOTES IN PEOPLE! (-D My hope is to get at least thirty votes, so even if you've already voted, please tell some of your friends on here about it so they can help me out! THANKS!
Okay, so another thing: I've started drawing Faith in anime style (because that's what I can do best right now if I put time into it). When I get it done, whether that be by the end of this chapter or the start of the next one (you know, whenever), I will be putting up a link to it so you can see the basic of what she looks like normally. However I love love LOVE looking at things other people have drawn, so if any of you want to draw something relating to this story, be it actual scenes from the story or clean, fluffy, cute stuff relating to the story but not specifically in the storyline, I am putting up an offer for it now. I don't care what style these artworks are, I just like seeing them! (-D So send me a pic and if you don't mind me putting up a link for it, then I will do so in a heartbeat!
A couple more things here guys, so just hang with me please. My birthday passed a while ago so Happy Birthday to me! And the thank yous...
BIG HUMONGOUS THANK YOU to Katrxna in Australia, who, so far, has reviewed every chapter they've read! THANK YOU FOR DOING THAT! YOU MAKE ME SO HAPPY! XD
And now the numbers of this at the point of me typing up this chapter: Favorites: 7 (Anabelladonna351013, Crushing hard, Katrxna, Madadh Allaidh Joe, achapril, kat151820, and sophiescastle), Follows: 10 (Anabelladonna351013, Crushing hard, Madadh Allaidh Joe, Wolff Howl, achapril, kat151820, klwiggins2014, tsalyah, and yuuzuu), Reviews: 13 (Reviewers are: HotChilliPepper101, Guest, Crushing hard, Katrxna, and Madadh Allaidh Joe), and Countries: 27. And the countries so far are: United States, India, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Europe (which showed up once even though Europe is a continent), New Zealand, Indonesia, Mexico, France, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Philipppines, Netherlands, Malaysia, Argentina, Belgium, Russian Federation, Spain, Austria, Chile, Slovakia, Poland, and Japan.
So thank you thank you thank you again to all my wonderful readers! I love you all! Okay, enough of my jabbering.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor will I ever own Dreamworks or Rise of the Guardians.
JACK P.O.V.
Nothing makes sense anymore. I mean, I was a little confused all those months ago (seems like an eternity ago) when a 17-year old girl saw me and admitted to believing in all of us spirits and Guardians. But this - this is... It's like absolute and chaotic pandemonium broke out in the realm of reality and everything's been turned upside down. I've been sullen at her turning dark and leaving us, and I was angry at the world when I learned that she wasn't coming back (assuming it was because of something Pitch had done). But seeing Sandy shaking with fear, reading his words that Faith had been - NO. She had been happy at torturing me in dream-world, knowing that Sandy couldn't even stomach staying there for the rest of the dream because it got so dark... That flipped my entire world over.
And I won't let anyone say that monster is Faith. Faith isn't like that. It isn't her. Not the true her, not the Faith I know. She's only Faith when she is saved by whatever is causing her to think like this. There has just has to be something, has to be!...
I fall into uneasy sleep, shifting between the darkness of my room and the darkness of my head, trying to rid myself of any thoughts of what she might be thinking right now. What else she might be smiling at. And all of a sudden, I see her. The real her, the real Faith. I feel so happy, and I run to her. But I'm not getting anywhere. The ground we're standing on is moving her away from me. So I fly, as fast as I can, until at last I catch her hand and pull her into my arms.
Her blonde hair's fluttering about in the wind still remaining from my great chase, and I'm just so, SO happy to have her back. To see that she's her again! "Faith." My breaths are slightly ragged, and I'm trying not to cry so I won't get her shoulder all wet. What a funny thing to think...
"Shh." She shushes me and hugs me back. "It's okay. I'm here now, I'm back." She hugs me tight, but I don't care. I close my eyes and squeeze back. But my breaths are getting a little too ragged. Strained, even.
"Umm, Faith?" I manage to ask.
"Yes?" she asks back, still holding onto me.
I cough and choke a little. "You - you can let go now."
"What?" she pulls back and looks at me with an innocent and confused expression. "Jack, that's not me." She steps back, and a biting wind cuts through where we're standing, almost knocking her over. She struggles to stand, and I look back behind me, black spots starting to cloud my vision.
There she is. The girl that is NOT my Faith. I look back, and Faith is still struggling against the wind that her dark counterpart must have conjured up. The wind changes course quickly and does knock Faith over, dragging her through the snow and behind a dark fog. When I can't see her anymore, the pressure on my chest and back releases its constricting hold and I gasp in air, feel it woosh down my throat and into my lungs.
I didn't realize I was on the ground, but I get up anyway, shaking off my dizziness, and start yelling for Faith. "FAITH! FAITH! FAITH!" I can barely hear myself over the wind, even when I'm yelling as loud as I can. How is she gonna hear me? I think. Think... Think... Think. Think! That's it! I'll try to send her a message and HOPE she's trying to hear me.
"FAITH!"
"JACK!"
"FAITH!" I shout back happily. "WHERE ARE YOU?"
"Right here!" her voice yells and I can see a dark shape, a figure - No, that's Faith! - coming out of the fog. She's walking quite slowly, and very calmly which is... unusual. I put two and two together right as she walks out. Not Faith.
Her hair is the darkest black possible, straight, down, and goes just past her hips when it's not swaying about her in the blizzard-winds she controls. She suddenly has bangs going across her forehead, and her white strip of hair is gone from the right side of her head. Her lips are a dark blood red and her skin is a milky pale (just a bit lighter than before, I suddenly notice), probably the only thing about her that hasn't changed dramatically. Her eyes are a very dark purple that just speak death. Her nails are either black or red. Which one I can't tell because it looks like they keep changing from one to the other.
A very dark red and black work with each other in a wide, almost plaid-like design to cover the whole of every piece of cloth she wears. Which (other than her wrist accessories) would be her dress. The dress itself is quite simple, with a mid-thigh-length skirt and sleeves that are off-the-shoulder, flowing down from the bunched up stretchy band running across her shoulders and around in a straight horizontal line, and a slit in each sleeve, top to bottom that almost goes unnoticed when her arms are straight against her sides. The skirt flares up and out a little at the bottom. But the little embellishments and accessories here and there make the dress seem almost as dark and unnerving as her.
A shiny black leather dress piece runs down the center of the front, from the top of the dress to the top of her stomach. The black thread that runs through it on either side, corset style, is pulled tightly, and the ends of it are hidden. The belt she wears around her waist is black, again it's shiny, and rather thick, buckled with a thin, square, silver piece. Her wrist accessories, the only other thing made of cloth, are short, loose near the top and bottom ends, and get considerably tighter, bunching up where they're fastened to her wrists by a thin black strap of leather, that is also belt-style with a tiny silver buckle. The closely-knit black fishnet stockings she has on are quite noticeable, and fade down into her polished, black combat-like boots. The boots are a bit more on the fashion side, run up to the top of the bottom half of her calf, and are heeled, the heels being thick and square.
She keeps walking toward me and her smile grows malicious while her eyes become black with red irises. I start backing away, noticing for the first time that my staff is now gone. "Jack, aren't you glad I'm back? I thought you cared about me," she says in Faith's voice. I can't get away fast enough, my feet moving the slowest they've ever moved. She finally gets to me, and - get this. Hugs me.
"See, I'm still me," she says in a comforting voice. But I can't hug her back. Because it feels wrong. Everything about this feels wrong. "It's okay, Jack. Everything is okay. It's all just been a nightmare. You're awake now. It's okay." But she still doesn't look like Faith... What is so freaking hard about the world leaving my life alone with the whole 'I'm gonna flip your whole life over and leave you to stumble over it' thing?!
"No. No, you're not. You - you aren't her. I know you aren't." She hugs me tighter, as if trying to get me to believe her.
"Jack, why won't you believe me? Why won't you trust me?" she whispers, sounding hurt. My mind flashes back to the fight we had a while ago. Again, it feels like forever since we both forgave it. Her scream of anger echos in the back of my mind. 'Why can't you just trust me?!' I automatically feel bad, and even though my stomach squirms the second my arms are around her, I reluctantly hug her back. Not the 'I'm gonna squeeze you death oh my gosh you scared me' kind. The 'ehh this is kinda weird and I don't know what to do and now my arms are just floating mid-air around you and barely touching you' kind.
All of a sudden my shoulder and back start burning like they're on fire, where her hands are. I try moving, but I can't budge her. She presses harder then digs her fingernails in, scorching my flesh. My mind goes half-loopy and says in a slap-happy-tired-bit-higher voice, And THIS is why my stomach was squirming..., like it's a new discovery. "Everything is okay. It's all just been a nightmare." I hear her repeat as she smiles like a dark Cheshire Cat, her eyes burning black and red. I feel like I'm falling. Or maybe I'm floating... It's all just been a nightmare... My mind echoes as my vision dims. A nightmare... Nightmare... I lose sense of everything once more as my vision gives out and the world goes black.
...
I wake up screaming. I'm awake, sitting up, tired, sweaty, it looks like I've been thrashing around on my bed, and I'm terrified. I shiver, still feeling the ghost pain from my nightmare. I close my eyes, hug my knees, and take deep breaths.
"Faith, please come back."
FAITH P.O.V.
Everything around me becomes hazy, and I'm guessing enough time passed in my little dream-world here for Frost to wake up. Silly Frost, thinking I would kill him after just one torture-time. No. I smile, relishing this dream. I'll keep doing this until I wake up and can make a plan to do it for real.
The dream clears back up and Frost stirs. I unchain him from the wall, but keep the chains on his arms and feet, reconnecting them with more tainted ice links. I walk through some hallways, dragging the Frost boy behind me on the floor the whole way there. I get to a door and push it open, walking into the circular room to find the Guardians chained up to their own little sections of wall. They're all in uncomfortable sitting positions and their chains don't allow them to move around very much. They have gags in their mouths, the cloth tied around the back of their heads. But apparently they don't get the whole point of a gag (Which is to keep someone QUIET.) and start yelling out, muffled shouts escaping and 'stampeding around the room', not echoing, but VERY noticeable. Not to mention annoying.
I get to the middle of the room, drop the chain from over my shoulder, and wait. Five agonizing seconds goes by, and they're all still shouting and trying to struggle their way out of their binds over to the boy laying a couple of feet behind me. I roll my eyes, let out an exasperated sigh, and say, "You know those chains aren't going to break, right?" in a loud voice. Their attention now turned to me, they start their rage all over again, yelling at me through their gags, glaring at me, and trying to run free of their places on the walls. The only one not yelling is Sanderson, and he's mute, so I guess that makes sense. But what little sand images he can get out convey a clear message: 'You are a monster and if you hurt Jack anymore we will DESTROY YOU.'
"My, my, not feeling nice today, are we Guardians?" They glare at me and yell some more. I start heading over to the Frost boy and they start their yelling back up again. Really?! WHY CAN'T THEY JUST BE QUIET?! I remember that this is technically still my dream, so I think of metal casings to fit around their heads and over their mouths, preventing them from moving their lips at all, and without a second thought needed, the five metal gags are in place.
They look at each other surprised, then struggle when I drag the Frost boy to the center of the room by his chain. The long chain then disappears, leaving just the two short ones binding his wrists and ankles together. I make him stand up, make him look at me, then all his friends. His precious Guardians, chained up. I make an ice knife, swirling with beautifully dark colors then turn the Frost boy around so his back is facing the Guardians and lightly press the tip to the base of his skull, angling the knife's tip up.
"Now then, Guardians. Should you do anything other than cooperate, little Frost here will be dead in the blink of an eye. Well, actually I'll need all of you to cooperate. Guardians, you will remain quiet and will not move in the slightest." In the middle of me explaining, I freeze the knife's tip to the base of Frost's skull, so it stays angled as if I were holding it with my own hand. Now I can simply make the knife move forward at any time to puncture the skin. Any more than that will result in a direct kill. I smile darkly and continue explaining, but this time to Frost. "And you will do anything I tell you to do, or let me do whatever I'm planning without struggling. Else your dear friends over there will suffer whatever you were supposed to endure. Times ten," I finish darkly, with an evil smile.
He looks at me with wide eyes, then lowers his head in submission. "Okay," he agrees quietly.
"Perfect," I say, grabbing him by his snow-white hair, and throw him on the floor again. The others protest with pained looks and slight movements, but one look from me, and they fall silent again. One by one, they close their eyes so they won't have to see whatever I do to Jack. "Nuh-uh," I say in a warning tone. "Keep your eyes open, Guardians."
They all do as I say, albeit hesitantly. "Now," I say, turning to look at Frost again, who's curled up tightly, trying to disappear into the floor. "Let's start with something a little less... bloody. Don't want your little Tooth Fairy fainting before the real show starts." I nod over to a long bed of coals nearby. They flare up and turn red the second I think to start a fire beneath them. "Go on," I say encouragingly to the Frost boy. "Walk across it. And not run, walk."
He looks at me with wide eyes. "Is your hesitation an objection?" I ask. "Because I can flame them up hotter for Bunnymund to scorch all his fur on..." I raise my eyebrows a bit. The big rabbit looks up at Frost pleadingly, telling him silently to just tell me no. To not do it. But Frost shakes his head slightly and turns back toward the bed of hot coals. He looks once at his bare feet, then starts walking toward the coals.
When he gets there, he doesn't hesitate again, but closes his eyes tightly. The second his foot touches the flaming red and black scorching materials, he winces and tears spring up and fall down from his scrunched-up eyes, making sizzling sounds whenever one of them falls down to the coals beneath his feet. Despite all the pain though, he refuses to make any sounds.
He nears the end of the coal bed, and his bare feet are completely burned. The room smells strongly of burned flesh, and Frost barely has the strength to stand. By the time he gets both his feet back onto the cool, polished, stone floor, he cries out once and falls onto his side, clutching at his feet, tears still pouring down his cheeks like rivers. Boy, is it a refreshing sight!
"Hmm..." I say thoughtfully. I squat down next to the winter spirit (quite a pathetic sight, really) and tap his top foot, making him scream out again. I smile. "You know, these burns aren't pretty whatsoever. So I think I'll just do you a favor and cut them off the bottoms of your feet." I'm not even sure if he heard me, but that doesn't matter. I won't bother tying him down. If he moves and the ice-knife slips, it'll just cut deeper. Not a problem for me!
I take my ice knife and start with his right foot. I dig into the bottom of his heel and slice away, taking all signs of the burns off, all the way down to the tip of his toes. Smiling the whole time, I begin cutting the other foot. Blood runs onto the floor and I get it all over my hands, not bothering to wipe them off. I take my hands, make a cup with them below one of his feet, gather some blood, and pour it from my hands to the top of his head, letting it run across his hair, down his forehead, and into his eyes. Some gets in his mouth, and he tries to spit it out, taking ragged breaths from screaming so much. Much like in my battle training room, the screams are so delicious and vary in range and sound. But by now, he screams with everything I do, so I just take it in subconsciously, not really noticing it in the moment because I'm used to it, but saving it for later so I can relish it one hundred percent.
I make him stand up, walk across the room. Bloody footprints follow in his wake. Beautiful decoration! I really should do that sometime...
Many more cuts later, he is almost completely covered in red and his clothes are soaked in his own blood. He's thrown up more than once, and smells and looks of near-death. He's had to endure many different kinds of cuts, clean, rusty, long, deep (either inflicted upon him by me or himself). He's bruised and battered, has a broken leg, a hand that's been dipped in acid, and quite a few broken ribs. None of his skin is a normal color, ranging in reds, purples, blues, greens, browns, and yellows. Like a rainbow of torture!...
I'm smiling and laughing insanely the ENTIRE time, loving every bit of it. The Guardians are completely sick of it, precious Toothiana is passed out, and they've each had their share of throwing up in their mouths at Frost's punishments.
"Only one thing more, Frost," I say, spitting the word out viciously. "Then you're all free to go." The Guardians look at me suspiciously, not believing me a bit. "I'm telling the truth, I swear," I say to them, rageful sincerity in my voice. "The good thing," I say whilst turning back to the boy on the floor, "is you have a choice in this one." I pause for a moment.
"All the writhing about on the floor, chasing your voice away entirely from screaming hoarsely at the top of your lungs, the cuts, bruises, and pain... can all vanish." I conjure up a chair, and roughly put him in it. "But it has to be your choice." I pause again, enjoying the moment. "Either send your friends home through spiked tunnels, or do one tiny thing, miniscule really, and send them home through clean, smooth tunnels, completely free of spikes. One, or two?" He holds his right hand, the hand that hasn't been dipped in acid, up and puts down all his fingers except two. "Excellent choice!" I say in a chipper voice. "Now your friends can go home completely unscathed. In the physical way at least..." I add on.
Once the boy is slumping in defeat on a chair, I position the Guardians backwards on the edges of the clean tunnels with my mind (I LOVE THIS DREAM!) and say to Frost, "Good. All you have to do is lean your head back." He starts to do as I say, then stops when his skin meets my tainted ice. His eyes are wide open, and his face doesn't show fear for himself, but fear for his friends - because he clearly understands what's about to happen to him if he keeps lowering his head back. The Guardians, however, are a little slower to take up what's going on, and just stare. Toothiana wakes up and begrudgingly opens her eyes, not wanting to know what horror awaits Frost next.
He shifts his focus back to me one more time and narrows his eyes, as if to accuse me of doing some unthinkable, inhumane thing and switching his friends to the other tunnels the moment he isn't there to stop me. I look him straight in the eyes. "I promise, Frost. I won't put your friends through the tunnels with spikes." He looks at me then nods once. Closing his eyes, he starts to lean back. Slowly, ever so slowly. And only once his neck starts to spurt blood from the ice knife puncturing his skin, do the Guardians figure out what's about to happen. They struggle against their bonds, crying out in horror for their precious Guardian of Fun. He doesn't even acknowledge their muffled howls as he leans his head back further. He looks so peaceful, not flinching or screaming, just breathing raggedly as he leans all the way back, like he's reclining. Like he's relishing some blissful secret before falling asleep. He takes one big, sighing breath - his last. And as he exhales, dripping blood and covered in bruises, he smiles ever so slightly.
I start to laugh, giggles at first, then chuckles, and finally full-out maniacal laughter. He's dead! DEAD! I fall over laughing, barely able to hear the Guardians' shouts of protest and disbelief as I lean against the chair he still sits in. Well, it's a win-win. He escaped the pain and I got to kill him! See him finally dead! But you know what would be even better? If it was a win-win-win... Still giggling madly, I speak in barely above a whisper. "You fool." I lift my eyes - those of utter insanity - up, to the Big Four. Falling back into psychotic fits of laughter, I see tendrils of shadows creeping out around them, as well as every part of the room, casting it in an eerie darkness. "You didn't really think I would keep Pitch out of this, did you?! Ridiculously naive to the very end!" I show a diabolically fanged smile. "I said I wouldn't push them through the spiked tunnels! BUT I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT HIM!"
Hearing the Guardians scream and, no doubt, try to curse me, I turn back to Frost's body with a gleefully happy smile, exhaling in relief. "And Pitch?" I pause. "Push them hard." Just when I'm about to turn around... my dark fantasy dissipates while four words echo around my brain.
"Faith, please come back."
I sit up in bed, smiling ruthlessly. "Never."
I get out of bed. Well, I suppose it's time to go tell Uncle Pitch my plan!..
OKAY FIRSTTHINGINEEDYOUTODOISCALMDOWN! THAT'S RIGHT! CALM DOWN! Okay, second thing: I'm sorry I didn't update for so long! Hopefully this extra long chapter will make up for it. And third thing: yes I know most of you out there are probably saying "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO JACK YOU SICK, TWISTED MONSTER?!" My response?
1. It was Faith's dream.
2. Faith's dream was in my dream because in my dream, Faith is me.
3. I know I am sick and twisted and dark and messed up, so thank you very much for the compliment. I'm glad we've all reestablished that.
Jack: How?... I... Just!... *goes slack, stares at screen, stares at me, mouth hangs wide open, shakes head, blinks a lot... etc. (this goes on for a while)*
Alichess: Don't worry... It's just my mind being messed up and getting a little out of control subconsciously. Then of course, me refusing to write anything but what really happened down. *shrugs* Seems pretty fair to me...
Bunny: *a bit woozy/swaying* Uh, sheila I feel a bit sick after readin' 'at but... Ya got lotsa people out there, with torches, pitchforks, and who knows what else trying to storm your yard.
Alichess: Huh? Oh, that'll be the fangirls. You know, Frosty's fangirls? *points thumb at Jack* *looks out window, hears shouting, sees many torches, pitchforks, etc., angry fanpeople and signs such as 'How dare you!' and 'Frost murderer!'* *opens window, sticks head out slightly, yells* DON'T YOU WORRY! *goes back in room, covers spirits' ears, runs back to window* I'M A FANGIRL TOO! SEE? HE'S PERFECTLY FINE! *uncovers spirits' ears, half-drags Jack to window*
Jack: *waves, still in daze* *looks at Alichess* What's goin' on?
Alichess: Jack, snap out of it. You know you're getting kinda bad when your eyes stop focusing. And the fangirls are angry, that's what's happening. *shuts window, locks it* Well, if you walk out there, you'll get stampeded and if I walk out there, I'll be chopped up into tiny pieces, so I say... CAMPOUT IN THE BEDROOM! *runs to kitchen* I'LL GET THE POPCORN!
Bunny: I'm just gonna type this up and close it so I don't havta see it anymore.
Hugs, happy dr-
Alichess: Nonononono! Let me do that here...
Death squeezes, night terrors, and blizzards to you all!
Bunny: *gags* Just turn it off..