Forever
Chapter 21: History Repeats Itself
The large Russian man cut down another fearling as it got a little too close for comfort. The Guardians had been fighting endlessly since they had arrived at Pitch's domain, but had so far they had made no real dent in the massive swarm of shadowy creatures.
"This is taking too much time!" North called out over the harsh battle cries flooding the area.
Sandy exchanged a knowing glance at his old friend before turning back to whip a few approaching Nightmares that descended upon him.
"Has anyone seen the boy!?"
Everyone around North replied with a negative response, which made the man ground his teeth in frustration. They needed to hurry up and find Jamie in the next half an hour before Christmas officially started.
It was a few seconds later when a wicked, bone chilling laugh filled the large cavern that North knew their time was up.
"Oh such a happy reunion, I'm so glad that you all decided to come and pay me a visit. I was looking forward to it for quite some time you see." Pitch spoke to the Guardians causally as he slowly stalked out onto a high platform, and into a small streak of light that shined down from the tall rocky ceiling. His golden eyes shined brightly with mischievous intent as he surveyed the grim scene before him.
"I'm going to do so much more than knock your teeth out when I get my hands on you!" Tooth threatened fiercely as she flew up towards him, only to retreat as a few Nightmares blocked her path and took off after her.
"Now, now, let's behave like adults here. You took my fun, dreams, and joys out of life all those years ago, and I would like to repay you all in kind." Pitch began as if talking about something meaningless as the Guardians and yeti's fought for their lives below. "I will take all my believers back tonight. It's about time that you Guardians gave back what you had stolen from me. Tonight I will end all of the precious children's' falsehoods and give them something real and tangible to believe in instead. Everyone will at last submit and believe in a very real fear that I will bring across the entire world."
"You're insane! Why are you trying to do this? Why do you always have to hold a grudge against us? All we ever wanted was to help and protect the children!" Tooth reasoned breathlessly.
"I'm sick of living in just shadows and under beds. I sick of living under the greatness of the Man in the Moon." Pitch snarled with disgust. "And mostly I'm done with being ignored and tossed aside whenever I decide that I would like to be acknowledged every once in a while. Especially a few years ago when you all teamed up with Jack Frost out of the blue and decided to lock me away in the ground for a few years, just like some naughty, disobedient child."
"Everyone back to Pole, we must retreat!" North cried out as he took out a snow globe and prepared to toss it to the ground. The fight was getting way out of hand, and the rescue group was easy being outmatched by the Nightmare King who was conducting this battle in his own domain, under his rules and conditions. There was no way they could win.
"Giving up so soon? That's odd, and here I thought that it was a Guardian's duty to protect every single child that believed in them. Although I doubt that boy is much of a believer now anyways."
"This isn't the end, Pitch!" North bellowed angrily as he smashed the globe on the floor and started towards the forming portal.
With an ecstatic grin, the Boogeyman watched as the portal formed, brightening the room with bright, colorful lights that came from Santa's workshop. "Oh, I believe it is."
Just like moths to a flame, the Nightmares perked up and rushed the portal eagerly to the Guardians and yeti's bewilderment. The nightmare sand creations entered the portal, but a large herd of them stayed behind and blocked the entire rescue group from getting through. With a mocking snicker, Pitch strolled up to the portal and flashed the three panicking Guardians a foreshadowing smile before following after the large group of his minions that had begun to take over the North Pole.
The portal flickered shut a few moments afterwards, and the Guardians were nearly overtaken in their despair. They were trapped until further notice in the Nightmare King's realm, unable to open up another portal until they defeated the infinite amount of fearlings that continued to form to life around them.
"Everyone keep fighting, we will defeat them eventually!" North hollered encouragingly as he stepped back into the fight.
"But North we can't-"
"Tooth, less talk, more fight!"
A sad expression overtook her features before her tiny hands tightened into fists and she flung herself at the nearest fearlings. She fought tooth and nail against every foe until a flash of blue caught her eye. She stalled in the air for a brief moment, giving one Nightmare the opportunity to ram into her from behind and knock the breath out of her.
Tooth gasped in pain as she hit the ground hard and felt the room spin dizzyingly above her. A dark shadow approached fast from above to finish her off, but a harsh white light blasted it away in an instant. Before she knew it, cold hands were picking her up and holding her against an equally chilling body, but Tooth knew with all her heart that she was safe.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, just give me a second." Tooth murmured as she got to her bearings. With a sigh, she back away from the comforting embrace and glanced up into Jack's beautiful icy eyes that watched her intently as she stumbled away and beat her wings harshly until she hovered in the air in front of him. "Thanks for the save."
He shook his head, and rubbed the back of his neck as his face flushed slightly with embarrassment. "Ah, don't worry about it. Now come on, let's get back to the Pole."
"Wait, what? I thought you would want to find Jamie first. No wait a second, you're not even supposed to be here, Jack!" The Tooth Fairy worried as she glanced over the winter spirit for any injuries, producing a tired chuckle from him.
"I already got him," Jack said as he pointed to the figure standing nearby in the darkness.
"Hi," Jamie greeted the Tooth Fairy awkwardly after watching the two spirits exchange.
"Oh hi, long time no see. Are you okay? Did Pitch hurt you?" Tooth began to bombard the teen with questions as he shook his head vigorously in response.
"No, I'm fine, but look out!" Jamie warned as another fearling launched itself at the small group of friends.
Without even having to think about it, Jack formed a deadly icicle in his hands and threw it with deadly accuracy so that it hit its target in between the eyes and killed the beast in less than a heartbeat. The fearling hit the ground with a thud before disintegrating back into plain black sand once more.
"Whoa, remind me never to piss you off," Jamie said after a few dead beats of silence between the three.
Jack chuckled and before stumbling forward as he gasped for breath. Tooth and Jamie were by his side in an instant to steady him, but he quickly brushed them off. After a few shaky breaths he tried to reassure them both after they continued to give him worried looks. "It's okay, I'll be alright. I'm just running a little low on energy I guess."
"Jack, Tooth, and Jamie! You found him!" North yelled happily as he caught sight of the three that stood off to the side. Even Sandy paused to glance their way for a second before returning to fending off the remaining Nightmares. "That's very good, but Jack you shouldn't be here."
"You're right, but listen guys, Pitch is going to try to take over-"
"We know, Jack. We need to get back to the Pole as quick as we can because Pitch is there right now doing who knows what to try to ruin Christmas." Tooth hurriedly explained.
"What? How did that happen?" Jack asked in disbelief, as Jamie's jaw dropped in horror. "Bunny and Sophie are at the Pole, they're going to be in danger. We need to get there right now!"
"I threw globe and the beasties jumped into the portal. They wouldn't let us get through either and it was ridiculous!" North responded as he took out another globe. "This here is my last globe! We must beat back the Nightmares long enough to open portal then everyone must hurry and jump into the portal!"
The rescue group formed a tight circle with Jamie and Jack in the middle, but as the minutes passed by and nothing happened, Jack took a deep breath and stepped forward towards the tight crowd of yetis.
"Wait Jack, what are you-?"
"It'll be alright, Jamie. I promise." Jack glanced back to give his friend what he hoped to be a determined look even though he felt a tremor of uncertainty flow through him.
Without another thought he pushed through the group and faced the main onslaught of attackers head on. Although not nearly as intense had the feeling been when Sandy had been killed in front of his eyes, Jack could still feel that immense power build up inside of him. It would leave him completely drained of magic for a while if he used it, but the Guardians were running out of time if they wanted Christmas to go on as planned.
Knowing that it also wasn't going to be nearly as effective as it would have been without his staff, Jack prayed that it would cause a delay long enough for them to pass through the portal. He brought up as much power as he could to the surface, then clapped his hands together in front of him, and with a yell he released everything that he had at the wave of shadow creatures before them. Deadly streaks of ice formed and spiked through countless creatures and continued on for a hundred yards or so, killing everything in its path.
This time when Jack stumbled, he fell bonelessly to the floor, vaguely hearing Jamie calling out his name. Warm hands were shaking his shoulders in an effort to snap him out of his dazed state, but Jack could barely peal his eyes open as exhaustion weighed down on every fiber of his being.
"Come on, Jack. They're going to open the portal, we need to go!" Jamie pleaded as he started tugging on Jack's arm as he tried to pull him closer to where the other Guardians were.
"Immf…ganmm…"
"Yes you can, now come on, get up you lazy sack of potatoes."
"… Not… lazy."
"Really? You call this not being lazy? You're falling asleep in the middle of a battle field." Jamie said jokingly as he tried to rouse a reaction of some sort from Jack.
"Everyone through the portal now!" North's voice called out over everyone's startled tones of disbelief as they surveyed the glowing white ice around them that had saved their lives. "We must hurry and stop Pitch before he ruins Christmas!"
Jack took a deep breath before hauling himself up, unable to stop the groan that passed through his lips as he felt the extent of his injured body. He didn't get another moment to reflect on how poor his overall condition was though as Jamie yanked him the rest of the way up and slung his lanky arm over his shoulder.
"Let's go save Christmas," Jamie told him with a determined tone in his voice, as he half dragged Jack towards the portal and with some help from the yeti's around them they made it in time before the portal closed. The new set of formed fearlings behind them huffed in agitation as their prey escaped them just in time.
By the time the portal released them from its disorientating hold, the other Guardians and most of the yetis were gone and fending off the swarm of Nightmares that were rampaging around the workshop. Jack stumbled away from Jamie as they both took in the horrifying view of toys being destroyed or damaged as the Nightmares trashed the place while yetis grumbled and smashed their fists around in the air as they tried to fend them off.
"Pitch needs to be stopped before this becomes irreversible." Jack muttered to himself, not realizing that Jamie was listening to him. With a sigh of resignation, Jack turned to Jamie who could now clearly see the dark bruises of bone-aching tiredness under his friend's eyes, and how he looked like a barely standing corpse next to him. "I'm going to find him, and end this Jamie. You stay here with the yetis, they'll keep you safe."
"No, just wait a second!" Jamie tried to convince the winter spirit to stay, but Jack was already sprinting down the hallway away from him with an unknown source of energy. The four yetis around him began to lead him in the opposite direction and eventually had to pick him up and carry him as he fought back to run after his friend.
"Put me down! I don't have time for this! Jack's in no condition to fight right now! He's not going to win! Come on, just listen to me!"
The yeti gruffed out a response below him, yet it still didn't release him so Jamie was forced to watch his friend disappear around a corner as he thought horribly that Jack probably wasn't going to make it if he found Pitch. With this in mind, he flailed in the yeti's hold and managed to wiggle away as a few fearlings took the group of snow monsters by surprise. The one who had been holding him hostage bellowed after him in warning, but Jamie paid no attention to it as he raced after his friend.
All this time, Jack had protected him and his sister, and now it was his turn to save him. As he rounded the same corner Jack had run down, Jamie bumped into a furry backside and nearly fell over backwards. The Pooka's ears flattened as he turned around expectantly with a boomerang in hand as he prepared to finish off what he thought to be a fearling. However, what he found was Jamie gasping for breath and looking past him with wide eyes and a panicked expression on his face.
"What in the bloody hell are you-? Ya know what never mind. I'm glad you're safe ankle biter, but ya need to get out of here." Bunnymund told Jamie as he swung his weapon to hit a few enemies before catching it expertly again.
Ignoring the warrior rabbit's advice, Jamie asked quickly. "Did you see which way Jack went?"
Bunnymund's eyebrow rose as he shook his head negatively. "Nah, I haven't seen the idiot since he left North's workshop."
"He went that way, Jamie." A tiny, meek voice answered Jamie from a hidden corner behind a decorated Christmas tree. With a start, Jamie recognized the voice to be his sister's and finally could make out her worried features as she pointed down the hallway opposite of her that spiraled upward and was dimly lit by a few candles huddled in the corners of the windowsills.
"Thanks Soph, I owe you one!" Jamie told her before he took off again, knowing that she would be okay with Bunnymund there to protect her.
The chocolate haired teen opened up every door that he passed, finding each room to be disappointingly empty until a larger more important looking door came into view. It towered over him, and with an almost hesitant hand, Jamie opened it up and blinked a few times before squinting at the barely lit room. He nearly decided to turn back when a hiss of delight made his skin crawl.
"I was hoping that it would be Frost that found me, but you'll do."
Jamie turned around and startled at seeing the pair of predator like golden eyes that observed him from across the room. They disappeared as their owner blinked and gave a mock sigh of disappointment before they opened again to freeze Jamie in his tracks with fear. Although he knew if he didn't believe in the Boogeyman or give into the fear that held his heart now then no harm could come to him. Yet it was hard to convince his instincts of this as Pitch cornered him into submission with just his piercing gaze alone. The overpowering fear was an automatic response to seeing the creepy being lurking towards him in the shadows.
"I'll make you wish you never started believing in those fools again, you little pest. You and Frost are the reasons why I never got my happy ending, and I'll make sure that this time around, everything will be go according to plan."
With a loud bang the door behind Jamie flung open all the way, and the boy jumped in fright before he laid eyes on his snowy-haired friend. The relief he felt was instant, and Pitch's features darkened in response as the amount of fear in the room decreased.
"Pitch, I'm done playing by your rules and being a pawn in your twisted little game. I'm ending this right now." Jack threatened darkly.
"And how do you think you are going to do that? Even I can tell when another spirit is pathetically weak by using up too much magic. You don't have the strength to fight me now with so few believers backing you up. Even I have millions that will still believe in me from time to time. You cannot forget fear forever, Jack. But you, you are just an expression, aren't you?"
"Shut up, at least the people who believe in me are my friends." Jack snapped back as he moved closer to Jamie who stood in between them.
"Yes, but I don't really care much for friendship, loyalty, and honor. I only care about power, control, and fear." Pitch said with a maniac whisper before he conjured up a familiar looking object from the nightmare sand nearby. Jack's eyes widened as Pitch pointed his shepherd staff at him. "You see how those three things help obtain what I want from this miserable existence."
Jamie felt Jack's uncertainty as if it were his own as they both watch Pitch grasp the wooden object firmly in his grasp and stomp it on the ground. Jack flinched as the staff and floor rattled from the impact, and in that instant a bright light, which had been absent for days filled the room entirely. The Man in the Moon had escaped his terrible view from behind the clouds and was now watching the scene warily as it was acted out.
Pitch stiffened and hissed out a few curse words under his breath before looking over his shoulder to glare at his rival. "What now, old friend? It's far too late to change anything. I even have Jack's staff so that he will remain powerless for the time being."
The staff in question lit up with blue ancient energy that reacted poorly to Pitch's tight hold. The magic within the object gave the Boogeyman frostbite that turned his skin black, and with a roar of pain, Pitch flung the staff away from him where it landed by Jack's feet. In an instant, Jack kicked it up with his foot and held his most treasured possession securely at his side.
"You were saying."
"Shut up, you-"
"I'm not going to be silent on this! Now for the last time, leave before this gets ugly, and never show your face again."
Jamie inwardly cheered at this sudden turn of events until a wounded look flashed in the Nightmare King's eyes. Jamie frowned at the display until the emotion vanished leaving nothing, but pure hatred and vengeance swirling around in his intense golden orbs.
"You will not shove me away like some nuisance again! I am the Boogeyman and will be treated as such! I am what makes people afraid to go out at night. I am the shadow that lurks around every corner. I am fear! You Guardians are not getting in my way this time! I will be feared like I should have been all those centuries ago!" Pitch fumed as his nightmare sand swirled up around him faithfully.
He raised his arms like an archer as a bow of hardened sand fitted neatly in his readied hands along with a positioned sharp arrow. Jack saw the madness in the spirit's eyes as he targeted Jamie with a blow that would mean death. The arrow was pulled back and released just as Jack moved into action. There was no time to think as he reached forward with his staff and hooked it around Jamie's midsection to pull his friend backwards so that he fell. The arrow continued on and pierced the winter spirit squarely in the chest with enough force to make him step back a couple steps. Looking down, Jack had an out of body experience as he stared at the end of the arrow that stuck out his chest before his body gave out and collapsed to the floor.
This time when Jamie crawled over to shake him gently awake, Jack couldn't even find the strength to respond as blackness swarmed his vision, and a sharp direct pain spread fast throughout his body and blocked out most of his remaining senses in a heartbeat.
The last thing he heard before his conscious was robbed from him was the sounds of Bunnymund entering the room along with Pitch's voice announcing the presence of Sandy. However, the noise that stood above the rest was Jamie's disbelieving sobs as he watched his best friend fade away before his eyes.
"… I-I no, Jack you can't die. Please don't die."
A/N: Yep all the angst that I've been dying to write for over a year now… Eventually this story will get back to a brighter tone… Hopefully. Anyways, I think this just might be the worst cliffhanger I've ever wrote, I'm going to try to finish another chapter soon so I won't leave you guys hanging in suspense for too long. I hope you all enjoyed reading this, and thank you guys so much for all the reviews, they make me so happy. Three more chapters left!