Austrian: Vielen Dank, deine Kommentar hat mich wirklich beruhigt. Pass auf dich auf!
MiaMamaOrMamaMia: I am so glad you liked the chapter. Lmao, yes indeed, little snowmen are their child.
Sorry for the late update, I was being lazy. The next chapter will hopefully come sooner. Enjoy the chapter everyone!
Chapter 17: The Last Battle, The Last Hope
"Aster!" she shrieked in terror, she hurled herself at the rabbit, who was lying half-unconscious on the ground.
It wasn't an unexpected sight. The blood from his mouth flew in a thin line, his eyes shut down, he was trying to lift his eyelids with his all might but he only managed to half-open them... Before Emma could detect Aster's injury, Jack, who was holding Tooth, gently laid her down.
Now, next to Aster, Tooth was laying on the dirt, she was groaning in discomfort with her soft voice, was racked with pain. She gripped her knee tightly whereas she was writhing violently.
"What happened?" Emma questioned her oldest brother quietly as she bent down next to him. She needed to distinguish their problem and heal them as soon as possible. She was secretly praying that their injuries weren't too serious or fatal.
"My right arm, a Fearling broke it." Aster managed to answer with a low grumble, Emma's eyes have already been focusing on his right arm.
He had a swelling over the bone, there was of course deformity, thankfully, his bone wasn't sticking out of the skin.
"Jack, create some ice." Emma ordered with a stiff tone, she didn't take her eyes off his eldest brother, not even for a second.
She ripped a piece of fabric from her tattered dress, put the ice Jack had extended to her on top of the fabric and pressed it gently on the injured's swollen arm. When Aster hissed in pain, Emma reminded herself to be softer, the pain in the injured area would get worse if the area was moved or pressure was applied.
"I think Tooth also broke her bone." she heard Jack saying calmly, she took a brief peek at him when he crouched down next to her.
"Where, exactly?"
"Her left ankle."
"Well," Emma snarled harshly, she didn't bother to behave kindly at this point. "Apply ice on her ankle, I will take care of her once I am finished with our brother."
Once again, she gave her all attention to the tall rabbit. "Aster, sit down." she commanded to him whereas she was remembering the treatment of a broken arm step by step.
The rabbit nodded imperceptibly, Emma helped him to remove his back from the ground. Now, his back that was blanketed with grey fur rested on the cold wall of the cave. She had to immobilize the arm and shoulder by placing the arm with a sling. "Aster." she called out his name, this time, gently. "I am going to lift your arm, alright?"
Before he could respond, she neatly placed his broken arm across his chest, Aster winced but did not bemoan. Emma rapidly fumbled around a bandage in her medkit, when she found it, she immediately folded it into a triangular shape.
She placed some clothing between the broken bone and the bandage, she tied the sling to support the arm. After clasping the bandage tightly over his shoulder by tying the knot over his collarbone, she folded the point of the banged and fastened it with medical tape.
As soon as she was done with treating Aster's arm, she bent down towards Tooth and began to deal with her broken ankle. Thankfully, neither of them had bleeding in their broken areas.
Emma was not a doctor, she didn't even define herself as a medic, however, she was always interested in this subject. That's why, North made sure that she received an education from the best doctors in the country. The years of education was in fact, really beneficial. She at least, was professionally capable of sewing open wounds, cleaning bruises before they could get infected and bandaging them. She was proud to say that she had saved a lot of lives back in the siege of Pitch's castle.
"Hold on, Tooth!" the young woman shouted while the bird-like woman's growls were becoming louder and louder, this was causing Emma to shudder. It was normal for Tooth to be in pain, a broken ankle surely hurt like hell, but in order to bandage it, Emma needed to be calm.
She flinched visibly when she heard the typical, annoyingly noisy and gruesome screams that belonged to the Fearlings. She gulped and exhaled in frustration, berated herself.
"I gotta go." Jack stated hastily, her gaze shifted to her brother in worry. She didn't want him to leave, she didn't want any of them to go to the battlefield and risk their lives. Her family, her friends, her lover... They all fought in a war that was impossible to gain a victory while she was sitting around and waiting for them to get injured.
She turned her head when she heard Aster shifting, the tall rabbit was standing up. "Wait for me, Jack." Bunny announced as he cringed a little.
"Pardon me? Aster, where do you think you are going?" Emma inquired with a demanding manner, her brown eyes grew bigger in bafflement when Tooth also strived to get up.
"Guys... You should rest, at least a little." Jack made a logical statement and backed up for his sister but it was no use.
Aster assisted Tooth by grabbing her from her hand. The bird-like woman was floating in the air, she was slightly leaning to the giant bunny. "Our war is not over yet." Tooth replied curtly, her once cheerful voice was nothing but grim, dreadful.
"Aster, you literally lost the function of your right arm! Tooth, you can't even place your foot on the ground let alone walking! You can't fight!" Emma cried out matter of factly.
Bunny pulled out his boomerang from the single-strap holster that was attached to his back. Normally, he held two boomerangs, however, since his right arm was broken, he had no choice other than using only one. Meanwhile, Tooth was removing her sword from the scabbard that she was wearing, her pink eyes were flickering in determination.
"We are fighting." Bunny proclaimed confidently.
"Until our very last breath." Tooth finished his sentence.
Neither Jack nor Emma opposed to their decision.
Jack gritted his teeth, he managed to get away at the very last moment, if he didn't, his corpse would be laying on the ground.
The young prince grunted in pain, his free hand found his shoulder. He gazed at his shoulder with a sharp breath that escaped from his lips, he cursed to reflect his execration. His right shoulder was bleeding, blood was gushing out of a huge slit.
Jack quickly applied pressure in order to stop the bleeding, but the battle was continuing. He leaped backward when a Nightmare Horse attacked him. His left hand clenched his staff, promptly, he shot an ice blast at the horse. He was more used to utilizing the weapon with his right hand, but his shoulder hurt too much, he knew his left arm would fight more efficiently.
"Jack!"
"Emma, I am fine!" he exclaimed with a rushed attitude, he didn't want his sister to get distracted because of him.
Emma, being the stubborn girl she was, insisted withstanding next to them, he didn't want to risk her life by letting her aid his wound on the battlefield.
Once again, the enemy approached, this time, a Fearling. They tried not to kill Fearlings, only defuse them. However, things were different now, they sometimes had no choice but to murder the Fearlings, who were once the citizens of their own kingdom.
He quickly shook that horrible thought away as he froze a Fearling in an eyeblink. They couldn't afford to let their emotions weaken them, even a second of deficiency was enough to receive a fatal wound.
He was demolishing the opponent almost reflexively, he wasn't thinking new tactics, wasn't peeking at what the others were doing, he just let his body handle everything as he was desperately striving for not to ponder on negative thoughts.
Speaking of them... Did they actually have a chance to win? He was feeling more and more full of despair within every minute, they were ten people in total, and they were against thousands.
There was something much scarier than losing a war... It was losing hope. Jack knew, he was getting closer and closer to that level. If he lost his last hope, he would also lose the last battle.
"Jack, watch out!"
The warning came too late, the young man has already lost his balance, he slumped on the ground with a heavyweight on him, he sizzled as he attempted to push the tall rabbit away. However, no matter how much effort he had pulled, it was no use, Aster didn't budge, not even for an inch.
He hissed in pain once again, this time more aggressively when someone else was tossed toward his side, their back hit his head hard. He somehow managed to raise his head a little and tilt it towards the right, the figure laying behind him was Jamie. His young face was covered in bruises and plenty of little scratches.
"Jack!" he heard Honeymaren yelling in worry. Aster shifted on the top of him as Honeymaren stood in the breach and nudged Aster, the young man was finally able to breathe properly when Aster moved away.
"Is Elsa okay?"
The brunette woman assisted him to stand up, nonetheless, the two found themselves being hurled, they plummeted. Jack felt himself being crushed under someone heavier than Aster. This time, it was Tooth and Emma that came to the help of them, they hastily pushed North and saved Jack. At least, Honeymaren was laying next to him, she was unharmed.
"Elsa is okay, right now, you should worry about us. Honeymaren replied silently.
Jack observed the condition they were in. North, Jamie and Aster were laying on the dirt, he couldn't grasp if they blacked out or not. Tooth was flying, obviously, she was still in great pain due to her broken ankle. Honeymaren must have split her lip, it was swollen, apart from that, she seemed fine. Only she and Emma were standing, although they looked like death warmed up, at least, the two girls were in a better condition than them.
That wasn't going to change anything. No matter how much they resisted, they had no chance against the King of Nightmares.
Jack didn't yelp, wince when slender fingers yanked his messy hair and clenched it by making a fist. Even though his knees were on the ground, his upper leg was raised up because the figure, who was clutching from his hair was standing up. His blue eyes searched for his staff, before he could detect where it was, he was forced to stare at the familiar hideous golden eyes.
"You lost the war, Jackson Overland. Soon, you will lose everyone you value for, your family, your friends, your beloved Elsa. And I, the King of Nightmares, won't kill you, I won't even torture you. For the rest of your pathetic life, you will torment yourself. Despair and fear, those two will be your only companions." Pitch Black spoke with a calm manner, he didn't sound snarky or irritating... He just stated the facts.
Pitch was right. It was over, there was no way they could win, they were ten against thousands... It was unfeasible. Nonetheless, he was not going to let his last hope slip through his fingers, not just like that.
Jack attempted to smack at Pitch, but the man easily caught his arm and blocked the attack by twisting it. He didn't break it, still, his arm hurt. Either way, Jack hasn't done yet, he created a lean ice blade with his free hand and sought to stab Pitch from his torso, nonetheless, he has already been thrown away for the hundredth time, very hardly.
He struggled to get up, he failed miserably as Pitch placed his foot on his chest. When he pressed his foot strongly, Jack clutched his ankle but in vain, Pitch didn't move a muscle.
"I told you, Jack. Fear is the true ruler of this world."
Upon these words, Jack's lips wiggled vaguely, a sly smirk appeared on his face. From the corner of his eye, he could see the last hope. "Pitch, I hate to interrupt your so-called victory but... You may wanna turn around."
The black-haired man frowned in perplexity, he slightly whirled around to understand what Jack had meant. Meanwhile, Jack has already snatched his staff that was sent towards him. He pointed his wooden staff at Pitch as the tiny, short man with golden yellow hair appeared next to him. Pitch's face went pale, his lips parted as his bafflement increased.
"Pitch," Jack said mockingly, his smirk turned to a toothy and cocky one, Sandy was ready to attack his brother with his golden whip. "I haven't lost my hope yet."
"Elsa, look!"
Her gaze quickly shifted to the direction where Katherine pointed with her index finger, as soon as she saw the scene in front of her, her eyes popped out of her head with astonishment.
Only a few seconds ago, all she could see was darkness, shadows and emptiness, however, now she could see the golden light that was getting brighter and stronger. Sandy. He was a light that came out of despair and darkness. The yellow sand was responding to the black sand, it was not only resisting it, but also attacking, destroying the darkness mercilessly and was quite successful in its purpose.
Not a single Nightmare Horse or a Fearling could touch him, the little man would take them all down in one maneuver without even glancing at them, his brown eyes, which gleamed with a mixture of determination and anger, were focused on his one and only target, Pitch.
She felt Katherine, pulling her from her wrist, the two women were running hastily towards the center of the battle, where Pitch was fighting against Sandy.
Sandy was repeatedly attempting to take Pitch down with his whips, Pitch was blocking his fast and strong attacks with a long, wide scythe that he had created with his black sand. Meanwhile, the others were assisting Sandy by slaughtering the nightmares.
By the time the duo arrived, Sandy has already captured Pitch by wrapping his magical whips on his wrists. Pitch couldn't escape with a cunning maneuver, the deep scowl on Sandy's face was definitely implying that Pitch wouldn't get rid of him, not anytime soon.
Pitch... He was defeated. The terrified, aghast look on his face told her so. Whereas Sandy was clenching his whips, Jack approached next to Pitch, then he tripped him up, this way, he was knocked down with a loud thump.
Jack directed his staff at Pitch, the crooked end of it was nudging his sharp chin as blue lights were coming out of it. "Are you sure that fear is the true ruler of this world, the King of Nightmares?" the young prince taunted him with a sneer on his face.
Before Pitch could answer, before Elsa could realize she had opened her mouth, she screamed out her thoughts in a desperate cry. "Jack! Don't hurt him!"
Me: I must focus on Jack and Elsa, their relationship and their special moments.
Also me: ...I want blood and violence and dramatized events... Lots of them.
Me once again, because I am a talkative person: Please leave a review, love ya all!