Jamie stopped still when he walked into the infirmary of the North Pole. He inhaled a shaking breath and cautiously stepped closer, not at all liking the sight before him. All the Yetis in the room turned to look at him, all of their eyes fixed on his in surprise and confusion, but he gave them no opportunity to question why he was there. He walked slowly over to the centre of the room, passing glances at the deep sleeping Guardians in a circle of armchairs, but they weren't his prime concern.
Jack. That was the only word that echoed over and over through Jamie's head. Baby Tooth, the tiny colourful fairy, came buzzing just behind him and hovered next to him for a minute before setting down on his shoulder. It was the most comfort she could give at such a dire time. Bandages completely covered his bare chest, his face was cut up and bruised along with any other revealed flesh. He was pale and sickly looking, and if it had not been for the shuddering breaths, Jamie would have thought him dead. He reached the side of the bed that the unconscious Winter Spirit was lying on and hovered his hands above the teenager tentatively, before softly taking a cold hand. As much as he would have liked, just as he expected, Jack did not squeeze his palm back. He stared at the Guardian who was always so full of life, now pathetically fighting for air and slowly dying on a bed. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew that Jack was dying. He didn't know how, he just knew. But that wasn't something he was about to let happen.
'What… why are they asleep?' Jamie turned to a Yeti, and suddenly realised that he wouldn't be able to understand a word that they said to him. Picking up on the same issue, one of the furry giants quickly left the room and came back in barely a minute later with a notebook in fuzzy hands. He hastily wrote what was happening in as little detail as possible, understanding that they wouldn't be able to hide anything from this kid if he wanted to know.
'They're… in his memories?' Jamie's eyes widened sceptically. 'Saving him?'
Baby Tooth chirped happily next to him, nodding in encouragement. The Yeti with the pad quickly informed the child that they were guarding the Guardians, as Pitch could show up at any minute. At that fact, Jamie's resolve intensified dramatically. He turned to look around the wide room, observing Jack's staff leaning against the wall in the corner, safely protected inside a sturdy looking glass case and watched at all times by two Yetis. Also inside the case was a beautiful wooden box that he instantly recognised as Tooth's work. He had to laugh at the ridiculous amount of locks on it, despite the churning it caused in his stomach at how important its contents must be. The Yeti shoved the notebook in front of his face with a crudely drawn memory box on the front, but remembered that he had never seen one. He drew a tooth next to it, and an arrow pointing at the box, then a snowflake that messed up in the middle.
'It's where Jack's memories are stored?' Jamie enquired, and Baby Tooth chattered in confirmation. 'Where is it?' The Yetis all pointed at the wooden box in perfect synchronisation, emitting a chuckle from the child. 'Looking after it well, I see!'
One of the Yetis watching the case lazily lifted a hand and signed a small salute, despite facing the other way. Jamie joined Jack at the bed once again and sat down on a chair that had been pulled up for him. He sighed heavily and placed his chin in his hands, unable to take his eyes off the Guardian in front of him. After a few minutes, he lifted his head and watched the sympathetic expressions that crossed the Yetis' faces. Baby Tooth came down and nuzzled his hand affectionately. 'So, do we know how they're doing?' he nudged his head in the general direction of the sleeping Guardians.
Baby Tooth thought about lying for a moment, but realised it wouldn't help anything, and promptly shook her head. Jamie audibly sighed. 'When will we know anything?' he said tiredly, rubbing his eye with his knuckles. She shut her eyes and dramatically acted out how someone would wake up. Understanding what she meant, Jamie just turned back to Jack. 'I'm not leaving until then.' He said resolutely, but nobody in the room could find the guts to tell him he had to go home. They'd let him stay a bit longer, at least. Jamie's hope rose then, knowing that the Guardians were hard at work fixing his friend, and his fear gave away for however brief a time he would be allowed.
Pitch noticed this. He'd been keeping a close eye on Jamie since they'd "run into" each other in the child's room, especially noting how his fear had been at a steadily increasing level since his departure. But suddenly, it was gone- not completely, but nearly. It was enough to mean something good was happening, and the thought of it made the Boogeyman sick. Nothing was getting in his way now, he'd worked for too long and too hard to let this plan go down the drain.
The grey-skinned man watched his globe, the light given out from it crushing enough on its own. He didn't need to be reminded of his previous loss. But there was one light in particular- a stubborn one, and one he'd quickly realised was none other than Jamie Bennett. He would have laughed at the fact that the child was now at the Pole, if he hadn't felt the ridiculous rush of hope, memories, dreams and wonder all rolled into one being given off by the kid like radio waves. It was disgusting. That was when Pitch Black realised something was going wrong in his plan- if a child was gaining all these Guardian emotions when he saw Frost, he can't have been doing as badly as he would have liked.
Setting his shadow course for the North Pole, and knowing how weak he was still, he started to slowly move through the darkness to the blinding white of the top of the planet. How he detested the place. He had to know what was happening, and why Jack Frost's fear was dropping.
Jamie twirled his finger through a lock of his hair, aimlessly daydreaming and recalling the fun times he'd had with Jack and the other Guardians. He'd been told why everyone was asleep, what they were doing, and what they were planning to do when Jack woke up. It sounded like a good plan to him, so he memorised everything about it and mulled it over in his head. He wanted to be the one to hand over the teenager's memories, not some Yeti, but he had accepted that the Guardian may not have any recollection of who he was. That could be painful. The Yetis were busy with work around him, one or two occasionally crowding around him to check on the Winter Spirit, before shuffling away again. Jack's harsh breathing was deafeningly loud in Jamie's ears, and he attempted to shut it out but simply couldn't. One feeling that he couldn't put his finger on was the sense of dread that took over his entire body. Jamie felt like something terrible was going to happen any second and, recognising the unusual sensation from when he'd been faced by an angry Boogeyman only months before, he knew the feeling wasn't unjustified.
He turned to the Yetis, who currently seemed not to notice anything, then peered out the window. He could have sworn he saw darkness and impossible shadows covering one of the glaciers in the distance, but he blinked and it was gone. He desperately wanted to tell himself that it was just him being irrational, but somehow he knew the fear of what was about to come was perfectly right. It was foreshadowing in its cruellest form. 'Baby Tooth, I think…' Jamie swallowed hard as he looked at the concerned glint in the tiny hummingbird's eyes. 'I think he's coming.'
Baby Tooth recoiled and shot up, grabbing the attention of several of the Yetis in the room. She explained quickly and the big furry beasts left only a second after, garbling to each other in hushed tones and ordering a few others around. Only about a dozen of the Sasquatches were left in the room due to the absence, but Jamie felt safe that they were enough. He went back to the bed in the centre and gripped Jack's hand tighter, only feeling the pulse beating through his skin very slightly, and much too slowly at that.
A crack of thunder and lightning unexpectedly exploded through the shuddering workshop, and everyone's heads turned towards the windows. Out in the distance, on the flats of the arctic, shadows crept and clawed at the ice. It inched closer and closer, and everyone in the huge building shot into action. Jamie turned to his friend on the bed, his friend in the air by his ear, and his friends around him, beginning to panic. The mini fairy laid a gentle hand on his cheek, but her feathers ruffled and shook in anxiety. She thought long and hard, flicking between watching the Guardians and the outside world. She was practically in charge alongside a few other Yetis, and she didn't have many choices.
Baby Tooth knew that if Pitch got in, anything could happen. She knew it was too much of a risk to go out and fight him. She knew it was futile defending the Workshop. She knew that if he got to Jack, he could ruin all of the work that the Guardians had just done and finally kill the Winter child, meaning the possible deaths of the 'Big Four', too. It wasn't something she was willing to risk. She knew what they had to do, and she just begged the Man In The Moon that the original Guardians had done enough work to fix the teenager lying deathly still in the bed. That she had enough strength and willpower to get the kid to open his eyes.
PLEASE, visit the Prologue again (Chapter 1)- I have added a new part to it, as I thought the whole Pitch thing was a little lacking on its own. :)
A/N: Right, well, things are really starting to heat up! You thought there was suspense before...? Ha! Well, now Pitch is on his way to the Pole and is intent on ruining the plans of the Guardians, and Jamie and Baby Tooth are stuck right in the middle. Nice to have her for a visit, huh? :)
I'm going to try and start updating more often, as I just realised that (at the pace I'm going) we'll only reach the end of the second arc by Christmas! :O I want this done by then, really, and I thought it would be nice if you had the last chapter on Christmas day, but we'll have to see how that goes. I got the urge to write for the third arc all of a sudden, and have pretty much written a quarter of it in the last few days, so I'll be able to update faster when we get there! It's exciting- more suspense, more pain, more Jack beating! Ah, come on, you didn't think I'd let him off that easily, did you? May I remind you this is not listed under 'Tragedy', however, as much as it feels like it at the moment XD
Oops, I gave away too much already. Ah well! As always, read, review, follow and favourite, and you'll get a special Easter Egg from Aster! ;)
Emily xxxx :3
