Chapter 51: Dance of Despair
The Pole was gloomier than it had ever been as the guardians prepared for battle. Sandman, with a doubtful look on his round face, tied his sand-whips around his chubby waist. He slipped on a protective shield on his chest and back, to avoid being shot a second time.
Bunnymund packed extra boomerangs and explosives in his satchel, and he put on a wooden helmet to protect his head. He also packed some healing herbs in his belt if someone was critically wounded.
Tooth, who had rarely looked so uneasy, put on the cuffs Lucy had made for her. Then, she put on a cloak that she wore in her former days; she knew from experience that it would protect her from being stabbed or shot, to a certain extent.
North, with his fur-lined cloak and twin blades, looked as menacing as a snarling lion. He traded his fur cap with a metal helmet, but other than that, he hardly had to add anything to his outfit.
Jack remained unseen until the very last moment, when everyone was boarding the sleigh. When he finally turned up, everyone could see that he'd taken special care of his armor.
It was made entirely out of ice, coating every inch of his body like a second, icy, impenetrable skin. Only his head remained unprotected, but everyone felt that there was no need for a helmet. His face looked hard enough to cut through diamonds. Clutching his staff, which radiated an unforgivable chill, Jack wordlessly climbed on the very edge of the sleigh. None of his allies spoke until the sleigh was in the black, starless night. The only illumination came from the full moon, which was very close to the center of the sky. In the moon's milky light, Jack looked like a ghost.
For a few minutes that felt like hours, the guardians remained immobile. If not for their chests rising and falling with every breath, one might have mistaken them for statues. But the silence was terminated when Tooth rose up and handed something to Sandman, then to Bunnymund.
The Pooka frowned and flipped it over. He looked at the hummingbird-fairy, "Sheila, this is blank paper."
"I know." Tooth answered sadly as she handed an identical sheet to North. "I think you guys should write out your wills. Because..." The shadows concealed her face, "...This might be your trip to the next world."
The silence that followed was only comparable to a cemetary's. Nobody spoke or moved, shock freezing their limbs. The guardians all took a moment to truly ponder over what they were doing. They were doing what was right: ridding the world of Pitch Black and his apprentice. If they didn't, who knows what more damage would be done? How many people would die? How many more times would Pitch try to rise in power? They knew that if they left those...those monsters unchecked, they would only cause more unrepairable damage.
But they hadn't really given thought to the capability of their foes. Pitch Black had thousands of Night Mares at his disposal, and even without his army he had a two-meter-long black scythe that could slice through virtually anything and was spectacularly strong. Even if he'd been weakening, he was still not one to be underestimated.
And the Sweet Serpent...was perhaps one of the deadliest spirits the guardians had ever come across. With a snap of her fingers, she could create her own armada of snakes made from Nightmare Sand. Even without them, she was a fierce, ruthless opponent. Hell, she'd managed to decapitate Molly without breaking a sweat.
The trance-like censorship was broken by a loud, shredding sound. Everyone turned to see Jack ripping up the paper into a thousand pieces. Once he was done, he tossed the paper's remains into the wind. "I didn't come along to die." He said in a low voice. He glared at his companions, daring them to speak up against him. "I came here to kill the Sweet Serpent!"
Bunnymund developed a sudden interest in his boomerangs. Sandman stared at the moon, as if asking it what was going to happen. North focused on his reindeer, silent as a mime. Tooth looked surprised for a moment, but then she nodded, "I understand."
Silence fell over the five guardians again. For a while, the only sound was the whistling wind, which sent Jack's snowy hair into wild dances. However, his face remained as cold as stone. He looked so...different from the carefree, happy-go-lucky chap that everybody was used to. It was almost like something had taken residence in the sprite's body.
Bunnymund finally spoke up, "So, mate...you give any thought to what Tooth said?"
Tooth glanced at the overgrown rabbit, but Sandman and North pretended to not have heard. Jack's eyes were icy-blue slits. "What the hell d'you mean?"
"I mean," Bunnymund looked up, his emerald eyes locking with Jack's, "before ya 'kill' her..." His face softened a fraction, "...won't ya even try to understand her?"
The silence that followed was unbearable. Jack's face was as white and blank as a sheet of ice. For five breaths, he stared at the Pooka with an unreadable expression. Then, very slowly, he stood up and leapt. He flew ahead of the sleigh, slicing through the air like a bullet.
The moon was so close to its zenith now, it sent agitation coursing through Melinda's body like electricity. But she continued to scribble in her diary, ignoring the annoying cramps in her hand.
'So, now you know. That's why I've spent hours writing to you, diary: because I'm not even sure if I'm gonna make it. If luck finally fails me and I die, I at least can die knowing that my memories are stowed away somewhere safe. I know it sounds grim of me, but to be completely honest, I don't think I'm gonna make it. It'll be five against us, and one of them wants me dead.
Jack...'
Melinda's golden eyes filled with tears, which spattered on the paper. Taking a shaky breath, she continued to write, 'I have to fight them. There's no way around it. If I don't, they'll kill Dad. And I can't handle that.' Her hand trembled as she forced herself to write, 'I can't take it anymore, diary. I can't watch the only person I have left die in front of me. He's all I've got...and I'll do whatever it takes to keep him alive. Even if it means dying.'
Melinda stopped. It was like she'd been blind since birth and miraculously given the power to see. She finally realized something that'd been staring her in the face for a while now. Plucking up her courage, she wrote:
'I think...that's why I rose up when everybody else in my family died. They're all in some afterlife, all together. My aunt, uncle, my parents...I don't really care where my cousin is, but maybe he's with them, too. They're all in some peaceful afterlife that I could never reach. I rose...because I became this. I died long before Pitch snapped my neck.
And I think...the reason it took me so long to ressurect...was because...a part of me wanted to stay dead. A small part of me, somewhere deep inside, just wanted to give up and rest. Deep down, I didn't really want to come back to life; I just wanted to be with my parents again.'
Another hot tear crashed down, making the words bleed together.
'But I can't.'
She glanced at the sky, and her face darkened. She looked at her diary, and something within her faded. She'd done it; she'd finally reached the end of the page, and there was only one line left.
Taking a deep breath, Melinda scrawled the last word. The last thing anyone would read should they pick up this ragged, years-old diary.
'Goodbye.'
Someone knocked on the door. Melinda barely looked up as a familiar, gangly figure entered the room. Black Ice attempted a smile, but it ended up looking more like a wince. He'd prepared for battle, too. Clad in an armor of black sand, he looked more like a shadow than anything else. He took a look at the moon before meeting Melinda's gold eyes. "It's time, Young Mistress." He held up a pair of clawed gloves, a ripped cloak, and a snake skull. "I hope that, tonight too, you'll paint lots of red paintings."
Lucy Rivera vanished. The Sweet Serpent appeared. The pale, heart-shaped face darkened even further, and those golden eyes turned as dull and lifeless as a doll's. Slowly, smoothly, she rose to her feet. "Even though you're different from Frost, your bad taste just as apparent."
In one graceful movement, the girl slipped on the gloves. The razor-sharp gloves captured the moonlight and gleamed. "Enough," She stated, her voice full of authority, "Let's get to it already."
In the forest next to Burgess, the night was noiseless. One lone cricket tried to play, but when none of its companions joined it, it fell silent as well. In this frozen wonderland, time seemed to be nonexistent.
Undearneath the surface, however, things were anything but still. Long ago, people had built mines within the town of Burgess in order to scavange minerals. These were in the early days of the settlement, and the mines were abandoned over a century ago.
But 'abandoned' did not mean 'sealed up'. Occasionally, people explored these earthy veins, just to see where they led and how far they could go. Some teenagers even dared each other to go in, if only for a little while. Some even used these tunnels as shelters in case of terrorist attacks or, God forbid, tornadoes.
Other than that, though, the mines were mostly empty.
But now, the damp walls echoed with sound. Low hissing bounced off the walls like spirals as a small army of serpents slithered across the earth. They were unlike any snake ever seen on Earth: they were as long as full-grown trees, and their scales, while smooth and sleek, were harder than any steel. Their fangs were as long and jagged as daggers. The snakes' bodies were black as midnight, and their eyes glowed like lanterns.
Leading them towards the battlefield was a cloaked figure. It wore a skintight bodysuit with a scale-like pattern, and its clawed boots thundered through the tunnels.
Underneath the skull-like helmet, the figure's mouth twisted into a vicious grin.
"Kssh."
Jack Frost landed on his feet, stealthy as a cat. The cracking ice hardened under the bare soles of his feet. He brushed stray snowflakes from his frozen armor, his face blank.
His wooden staff was entirely white now, sizzling with the power of winter. Jack smiled bleakly at the sight, almost hugging the stick to his chest. There was no escaping this power now. Whoever was at the wrong end of his staff...wouldn't live to see another day. Jack had never used his power like this, at least not intentionally. He'd always used this long Shepard's stick to make 'snowballs and fun times', and it had always been an instrument of joy.
But things change.
Seasons.
Places.
People.
Jack's teeth clenched together, and his eyes squeezed shut. He stared at his bony, ashen feet, trying not to think about the last time he'd been here. But it was too late. As if acting on its own accord, his mind trailed back to his last time here, eight years ago...
"I still can't believe we managed to pull it off!" Lucy stated for the fifth time that afternoon. Jack rolled his eyes and lazily waved a hand. The thin ice on his pond curdled until it was thick as cement. "I know. I'm the freakin' genius here, aren't I?"
Lucy snorted as she struggled to get her skates on, "Yeah, dream on, Frostbite."
A snowball nailed her in the back of the head. "Ow!" She spun around to see Jack standing idly by the pond, his hands in his sweatshirt pockets and whistling a tune.
She smirked, "Oh, you are so dead!"
"Is that a challenge, Brace Face?" Jack countered, his eyebrow raised.
"You bet it is!" With her skates still on, Lucy made a quick snowball and threw it at Jack. Two hit her: one in the arm, the other in the chest. A fight raged on; the friends' delighted screams and yells echoed through the evergreen forest as snowballs sailed through the cold air.
Jack punched a random tree, just to let some of the wrath out. Blood trickled from his knuckles and dotted the snow crimson, but he hardly noticed. His eyes were still closed, and he leaned his forehead against the tree trunk. His shoulders shook, "Dammit..."
"Jack!"
The winter spirit whirled around in time to see his teammates rush towards him. If they saw the blood on the snow, they chose to ignore it. Sandman made pictures above his head, an urgent expression on his chubby face.
Jack frowned, "What's he saying?"
"He's sayin'," Bunnymund piped up darkly, "They're comin'." He held up his boomerangs. "Get ready, ev'rybody."
The guardians pulled out their weapons, every sense alert. For a few tense seconds, the night was peaceful.
Then, the ground ripped open, unleashing a horde of hissing black snakes.
The guardians immediately sprung into action. Explosions were thrown at the snakes, shaking the world and reducing the serpents to cinders. Sandman's whips sliced snakes' heads off, turning them into useless piles of ashes. Tooth flew high out of the serpents' reach before swooping down again. Her wings sliced through the writhing black creatures as though they were butter. North did a fine job as well, and Jack turned every snake that went near him into a black ice sculpture.
But every time one was knocked down, another crawled out of the hole.
Jack got tired after the first twenty snakes. He leaned against a tree as a cold sweat dripped down his temple, panting for breath.
He was so exhausted, he didn't notice a black serpent, slightly smaller than the others, slither towards him. It opened its mouth and sank its teeth into his ankle, the one unprotected part of his body.
Jack screamed like a hundred banshees, making his comrades stop fighting and turn to him, their eyes wide. The pain was greater than anything he'd ever imagined. It was like someone had drilled through his skin and into the bones, setting fire to his blood vessels. His entire leg went numb, and he crashed in the snow.
Tooth screeched, "JACK!"
Bunnymund thought quickly and crushed the skull of the snake he'd been fighting. As he ran towards the fallen boy, a figure appeared from the shadows. Calmly, it walked towards him.
Bunny's eyes widened, "Oh, no..."
A shadow loomed over the white-haired boy. For a second, it simply stared at him. Then, with a feathery touch, it tapped his bleeding ankle. Jack sighed in relief; the pain instantly dissolved, and the wound sealed itself in the blink of an eye. "Thank you..." He pushed himself up to look at his healer...and stopped.
A familiar cape-clad figure crouched before him, smiling. "You're very welcome, Old Man Winter."
It held a clawed, gloved hand out. Jack stared at it for a long moment before, hesitantly, accepting the hand. He tried not to think about how perfectly their hands fit together, as if they'd been made for each other.
Easily, the figure helped him to his feet, but it didn't let go of his hand. Jack felt tears sting his eyes as he pulled his hand away, "Fuck..." Tears trickled down his cheeks like liquid pearls, "Why, Lucy? Why're you..."
The figure took off its skull helmet.
"...the Sweet Serpent?"
The girl grinned, "Kssh." She snapped her fingers, and the snakes stopped fighting. Their golden eyes were focused on their mistress, waiting for orders. The guardians were still as well, frightened that the slightest movement might trigger an attack.
Jack stared at his feet, though his body trembled uncontrollably. "Mrs. Bennett...and the kids that don't believe in us anymore...those workers...Molly..." He glared at the girl, a snarl on his face, "I'll make you pay!"
"Jack, wait!" Tooth grabbed the boy's arm as he tried to lunge at the girl. "Think about this!" Her violet eyes were desperate as she shouted:
"Do you really think you can kill Lucy?!"
"SHUT UP!" Jack tore away from Tooth, avoiding anyone's eyes, "You think I haven't thought of that?! You think I haven't been thinking about it every day?! Every hour...every minute...every second...I..." His voice weakened with each word, and the anger died. "I love Lucy."
His staff glowed white. "That's why..."
He looked up angrily, tears bathing his pale cheeks, "I'll be the one to kill her!"
He waved his staff furiously, and bolts of white energy flew out like eels. They darted towards the Sweet Serpent, who hadn't made a move the whole time. She saw the sizzling, colder-than-death bolts heading towards her...
...and smiled softly.
BOOOOOOM!
The explosion turned the night into day, transforming every tree into a pillar of frost. Deep gashes incased in ice appeared in the ground, and the guardians had to duck and cover to avoid freezing to death.
Only Jack, doubled over from the effort, remained where he was. Leftover tears were still gathered in the corners of his eyes as he watched, his hand still raised.
The figure he'd fired at was still for a long, painful moment. Then, limp as a rag doll, it fell backwards and rolled down the hill. Jack cringed at the thick trail of black blood it left behind. The figure didn't stop until it reached an old tree trunk, which stopped further descent. Jack took a great leap and was standing in front of the body in an instant. As he stared, he fell to his knees. The other guardians cautiously followed, trying not to look at the black river. Bunnymund, with his long strong legs, was the first to reach the boy.
He reached a paw out to the boy, unsure of what to say. "Jack..."
The boy whimpered and curled within himself. Then, he threw his head back and wailed. His cries filled the night, drenched in pain and suffering. His shoulders shook as he sobbed over the girl that he used to know. Then, when his voice refused to work any longer, the boy his his face in his heads.
Bunny, on the verge of tears himself, did the only thing he could think of doing. He placed a paw on Jack's head.
For a few seconds, they stayed like that. Then, a sizzling noise caught the Pooka's attention. Frowning, he searched for its source...and froze in his tracks.
The frozen, mawed legs, rendered blue from the cold, quickly regained their ashy color. Then, the wounds closed at an incredible speed.
Bunny's eyes widened as they travelled the rest of the body. Before his eyes, the wounds closed. When it finally reached the girl's face, she sat up, her russet hair billowing in the wind.
Her golden eyes, half-closed, bore into Jack's as she grinned, "Kssh." She stood up, tossing away her ruined cape. "Well, that was a very good try." Her feet left the ground. As she floated higher in the sky, her words pelted Jack like iron raindrops, "I'll be waiting, Jokul Frosti...for Round Two."
Then, she transformed into a black snake and disappeared into the night.
