A/N: theres snow everywhere and i cant enjoy it :T
Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.
Chapter Thirty Nine
"Should we tell Jamie?" Tooth asked. All of the guardians were flying over the forest of Burgess in the sleigh. "No. He will only get worried and try to go after Jack." North responded. "We can't risk another life." Jamie had the right to know what was going on with his best friend, but that didn't mean the guardians would tell him. It was too dangerous for him and it was for his own good. They knew how much Jamie meant to Jack and he would be devastated if he found out anything had happened to him.
As they drew closer, Sandy could sense the nightmares but he it also felt cold. Through the entire sleigh ride Bunnymund had been gripping onto the edge of the sleigh for dear life. He was nervous, and not just because he was miles above the ground in a flying deathtrap with 'no bloody seat belts' and a reckless driver but also because of Jack. They were all worried about him. He was very powerful when his emotions would get the better of him but now that Pitch was inside of him, they didn't know what to expect. None of them wanted to hurt Jack, he has no control over what he's doing.
"North! Look out!" hollered Bunnymund. North barely had time to swerve the sleigh to the left before a fearling rammed into it. Except this fearling was more solid, and icy. Another fearling made of black ice collided with the side of the sled and ice began to form where it touched. The force of the fearling made the sleigh ricochet and Bunnymund tumbled out and was now hanging onto the side for dear life.
"Don't worry Bunny I got you!" Tooth yelled over the sound of freezing air gushing past them. She flew over to Bunnymund and grabbed his paw.
"Just don't let go-"
"Why the bloody hell would I let go?"
Sandy provided assistance in pulling Bunnymund back into the sleigh. "Watch it next time North." he growled.
"Sorry Bunny, it won't happen again."
"It better not."
Sandy jumped up and pointed to an old bed frame in the middle of a forest clearing. "Everyone hold on!" North announced before the sleigh dived down. Behind them, an army of icy fearlings pursued them. "Keep her steady North." Bunnymund said before standing up and hurling a dozen exploding eggs at the fearlings. For every fearling that exploded in a shimmer of dark ice three more replaced it. Tooth flew up to the fearlings and as she spun in the air, her wings made contact with them but they were made of ice and too hard for her wings to break them.
Extending his whips, Sandy swatted at each icy nightmare that came close to them. "North there's too many we're going to have to find another way." Tooth said while dodging another fearling. There was an endless amount of fearlings surrounding Pitch's lair. Sandy nodded in agreement. His dream sand couldn't convert the fearlings because they were made of ice and nightmare sand. Another fearling rushed past them and this time, they couldn't evade it. The fearling crashed into one of the reindeer and it began to freeze over causing the other reindeer to become dragged down. "Everyone brace for impact!" North yelled as another fearling froze one of the sleigh's wings.
/
Jack had started to get suspicious. Pippa was acting as if everything was okay when her brother had just died again for the second time and then he witnessed his own sister die at the hands of him. There was no trace of her ever feeling remorse or being upset. If she was his dead twelve year old sister, shouldn't she be acting less mature about this? Pippa realized what Jack was thinking and she grabbed his hand while glancing up at him.
"I've been here for long time Jack. I was so confused when you weren't here and I had no idea what had happened to you until I started to watch over you from up here. Momma and Papa have been watching too."
Jack didn't respond. He was still zoning out in his thoughts and he didn't hear a word his sister said.
"Oh! Jack I have something for you!"
"What is it?"
"Cover your eyes and don't peak until I say so."
Deciding to tag along with her, Jack covered his face with his hands.
"Jack I said no peaking!"
"I'm not peaking."
"Yes you are! I can see where your fingers are spaced out in front of your eyes."
"No you don't."
"Yes I do!"
"No."
"Yes!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Pippa crossed her arms.
"Jack would you please just cover your eyes?"
"Alright fine."
Jack covered his eye properly this time.
"Okay, open!"
Taking his hands off his eyes, Jack saw Pippa holding his staff out to him. He stared at the piece of wood dumbfounded. Where did that come from?
"My, my staff..."
"Yeah!"
"But where did you get it?"
"We're dead so whatever we remember we can get and i remember you using this to save me."
Jack picked up his staff and frost coated the wood as his skin touched it.
"Oh! Jack I have an idea!"
"What?"
"Can we have a snowball fight like we used to back when both of us were alive?"
Honestly, Jack didn't remember how they used to have snowball fights back when he was human but it couldn't be that different right? When he saw her face and how childish she was looking Jack smiled. Just because he was dead that didn't mean that the guardian of fun couldn't have a snowball fight with his little sister.
"Well Pippa, I don't know."
"But Jack-"
Pippa was cut off when Jack threw a clump of snow in her face before running of laughing. Pippa started to laugh as well and started chasing after her brother.
"No fair! You caught me off guard!"
"There's no rules in a snowball fight!"
Jack threw another snowball at Pippa and this time she ducked and responded by throwing a snowball at Jack's shoulder.
/
Pitch had a sadistic grin on his face. He was about to reap havoc as the nightmare king and as Jack Frost. His dark hood was pulled over his black hair as he gripped his staff etched with nightmare sand. Vanishing into the shadows, Pitch flew down into Burgess. There were many times where the wind had tired to stop him but it was no use, he was too powerful to be stopped by an inferior little gust.
Golden eyes looked down on the sleeping town. There were wisps of dream sand in the air as the children dreamed in their sleep. They were smiling in their warm bed not expecting anything or anyone. Pitch couldn't help but laugh to himself at how wrong they were. Frost was covering the windows of each home and with a wave of his staff, a creature of darkness rose from the frost and seeped into the dreams of every single child. Their beautiful dreams turned into horrendous nightmares as they starting shivering from the cold.
Children were tossing and turning in their sleep. Some were crying, and some were screaming. Within seconds their parents were at their side trying to calm them down but they also had blankets wrapped around them. It was as if every heater in every building had become frozen.
Pitch balanced on his staff. He never knew Jack could balance this well. He listened to the tormented children while he decided to start a blizzard. Ice covered the roads making it impossible to drive on while water pipes everywhere froze. Deciding he had had enough fun for now, Pitch flew over to Jamie's house. It wasn't hard to find, it was the only house with a child staring through the window. Jamie had a nightmare that woke him up and because he was awake he had seen the shadows move outside until they infected the dreams.
He was the only child who wasn't afraid.
Instead, Jamie was waiting. He knew the guardians would come to save everyone. He knew that Jack would come too. Jamie hadn't seen Jack for months and he just assumed Jack was off doing guardian stuff or spreading winter to different parts of the world.
There was suddenly a tapping noise in Jamie's bedroom that startled him.
"Hello?"
Jamie turned on his flashlight and shined it in his room. There was nobody with him, as far as he could see. Jamie didn't notice the shadows under his bed. He was completely unaware that he wasn't alone, he was with the boogeyman.
Black ice began to swirl on the floor and out from under Jamie's bed. The child saw the ice and got curious and excited at the same time. He wasn't scarred, he knew that his best friend was here. There was only one person who could do this with ice, and his name was Jack Frost. But why was the ice so dark?
"Hello Jamie, did you miss me?"
The sound of Jack's voice caught Jamie off guard. It sounded like Jack, but it also sounded like someone was talking over him. It sounded like Pitch and Jack were talking at the same time. Jamie stayed in his bed. Was Pitch here? Was Jack here too? Jamie remembered that Jack said he would always be there to protect him from Pitch. Shining his flashlight around his room, Jamie tried to pinpoint where he had heard the voices. He shivered as the temperature dropped in his room. The young boy looked over his bed side and was met with a pair of two golden eyes staring back.
"And I thought you would never find me."
Jamie shined his flashlight and saw Jack but he was different. His skin was grey and his eyes were a golden yellow. His silver white hair was now pitch black and his clothes were different too. The hoodie he was wearing was a dark navy blue while his pants were a faded brown color. Even the frost on his clothes were different. It was much darker than it was before and black sand that was frosted over covered his staff.
"Jack?" he asked. "What happened? Why do you look like that?"
"Oh I'm afraid the Jack that you know is no more child."
/
Pippa ran through the snow while laughing. Jack was flying above her head and making it snow. She made a snowball and hid it behind her back as her brother landed in front of her.
"Well Pippa I-"
Splat.
Jack wiped the snow off of his face while his sister giggles at her success.
"Oh so now we're playing like that are we?"
A snowball formed in Jack's hand and Pippa ducked behind a tree while it whizzed past her.
"Ha! You missed!"
"Did I?"
The snowball that had passed Pippa moments ago was blown back by the wind and hit her in the back of her head. Jack playfully laughed with his sister as they continued to pelt each other with snow. As they grew tired, the dead siblings flopped down in the freshly fallen snow. They watched the clouds above their head float by and while they relaxed, something was still eating away at Jack. Pippa was acting like the last time she ever saw him was a few months ago, not over three hundred years ago. Shouldn't she have been more excited? Maybe he was just over thinking this. Maybe his mind was just playing more tricks. Jack sat up and brushed off the snow on his clothes.
"Well Pippa, its been fun but I have to get back to being alive."
He had been having second thoughts about actually being dead, but it was probably just all in his head.
"What? No! You can't leave so soon Jack you just got here! You promised you wouldn't leave!"
Pippa had sprung up and grabbed onto Jack's arm.
"You can't go so soon!"
"Pippa listen I'm so sorry bu, I'm a guardian. I have duties to fulfill and a battle to win. Trust me, I don't want to leave you but I have to."
"But I'll miss you!"
Jack frowned. He didn't want Pippa to be longing for him. She had been through enough when he had fallen through that lake because of her. As an official guardian, Jack had a duty to protect children but what if they were dead? What's he supposed to do? Should he stay or should he go?
/
Icy fearlings were rampaging through the town as the guardians arrived. "We have to find Pitch before this gets worse." North said. "What about the children?" Tooth asked. "We have to protect them."
"We'll split up. You and Bunny will stay here and do what you can while Sandy and I will go after Jack."
Tooth nodded before turning to Bunnymund.
"Did you hear that Bunny?"
"Aye."
Bunnymund pulled out his boomerangs and Tooth took off into the night sky. Sandy took North and together they flew on a cloud of dream sand. Sandy drove the cloud to Jamie's house just to check up on him. There was always a chance that Pitch may be there since Jamie was Jack's first believer. Slashing through another fearling, North looked around for any sign of their enemy. Meanwhile, Sandy had crafted a canon out of sand and was launching cannonballs made of dream sand at the fearlings. Each on he hit exploded and shards of ice flew in every direction as if it were glass.
They ignored the falling snow as they reached Jamie's house. It was colder here than any other part of the city. Inside his room, Jamie was huddling under his blankets for warmth and his face lit up when he saw North and Sandy fly in through his window.
"Guys look out!"