Warnings: Currently rated T for language, though liable to change in future chapters for dark imagery and mature content.
Disclaimer: I claim no copyright ownership to Rise of the Guardians or any recognizable characters depicted by DreamWorks, William Joyce, or other miscellaneous fairy tale creatures. However, the plot and original characters are my own.
Chapter Twelve
Alice was led through a maze of grand, high-ceiling hallways that branched out from the atrium in North's workshop. North commented idly on various paintings that were strung up on the walls as they passed them. Some were portraits of familiar reindeers, others were simply festive winter scenery, and a select few were paintings of North himself. Alice didn't pay much attention to his words as he explained the story behind each painting, but a small smile pulled up at the corners of her lips at the jovial passion in his voice. Without even meaning to, it seemed that his voice alone lightened the heaviness that weighed on her chest.
Eventually they reached a tall archway that housed giant double doors. He pushed open the doors, inviting her into the room that smelled of mint and firewood. There was a large sleigh bed placed on the left side of the room with velvet red sheets and a silky white canopy above hanging from cherry wood support beams. Across from it was a fireplace surrounded by dark stone, extending high into the cathedral ceiling. A single chandelier was suspended from the highest point, candles flickering as the chilling breeze filtered in through a set of small, open glass doors resting adjacent from where Alice and North just entered. They displayed a vast array of sparkling white, extending deep into the horizon beyond a circular balcony.
A small bench rested at the foot of the bed with a few extra blankets stacked precariously on top of it. Nightstands stood on both sides of the head of the bed with stained glass lamps. A vanity was placed near the fireplace and a rocking chair was swaying with the breeze in front of the roaring fire.
Alice didn't quite know what to think of the room. Her mind hadn't really caught up to the fact that she was at the North Pole inside Santa's workshop. Part of her was worried that maybe all of it was a hallucination, like some sort of post-traumatic stress. But then she rationalized that Jack Frost was still very much real and she'd already met North on Christmas Day. She ate Santa's cookies and milk and met the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman. Reciting the events in her head, she realized they were just facts. She didn't have the ability to feel excited about them or revel in the fact that she was living every child's fantasy.
There was still one kid in particular who dreamt of meeting the Guardians and that was exactly why she couldn't react.
"You can stay here for time being," North said, startling her out of her thoughts. Alice faced the jovial man as he glanced about the room before turning his gaze to meet hers. "We don't know if who took Max is coming after you too so better safe than sorry. It is not ideal, I know," he bowed his head apologetically. "But your safety is our top priority along with finding Maximilian."
"Thank you," she said quietly.
She could feel another presence enter the room before the sound of bare feet padding on wood floors reached her ears. She saw a head of silvery hair in her peripherals and watched as Jack stopped a few feet away from her, eyes swimming with emotions she couldn't discern. He exchanged a momentary glance with North, whose eyes narrowed slightly at the winter spirit. The air felt thick for a few seconds before North cleared his throat and the atmosphere lightened again.
"I'll take my leave," he said, giving Alice one last warm smile before trotting out of the room and back down the hall.
Jack pursed his lips, eyes resting on the spot North once occupied before shifting his gaze to meet hers. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched as Jack shifted a bit.
"So we think maybe Pitch has something to do with it," he stated suddenly even though she'd already heard their conversation, twisting his staff and thrusting it back and forth between his hands. He didn't refer to the 'it' specifically but she knew what he meant and her back stiffened as it brought her back to reality. The Boogeyman. They thought the Boogeyman had her son. Right. "We're going to go after him, see if we can find anything," by 'anything' he meant Max. "Even if he doesn't have him, there's a pretty good chance he knows where he is or what took him. I'll let you know as soon as we do."
Alice's brows furrowed. "Wait, what do you mean? I'm coming with you," she said, wondering how it escaped his notice that that much was obvious. She wasn't going to let anyone go after her son without her firmly in tow. Max was hers. He was her responsibility.
"Um, what?" Jack asked even though it didn't sound much like a question. "No you're not, it's totally not safe."
"Excuse me?" she felt taken aback and a little insulted. "I don't care if it's safe or not, he's my son and I have the right to help find him."
Jack shook his head, eyes squinting. "I don't care, it's too dangerous to have you with us. You could get hurt."
She waved her arms around. "Do I look like I care if I could get hurt or not? Not really on my list of priorities at the moment. If anyone's going to find Max, it's going to be me," she placed a hand on her chest as she glared fiercely at the silver-haired boy.
Jack clenched his jaw and closed his eyes for a second as if to calm himself down. His hands were glowing a pale blue as he gripped his staff tightly. In that moment Alice didn't feel the least bit intimidated. It was a winter spirit against a mother who lost her child. She felt like she could physically fight him if he tried keeping her away from the search. She deserved to be there. She deserved to spend as much time as the world would allow to look for Max because he shouldn't have been taken in the first place. She needed to find him because it was her fault he went missing and she wouldn't be able to live with herself if someone else found him before she did. She had to be the one. She had to.
"It. Is not. Safe," he uttered through gritted teeth. Alice's eyebrows raised in challenge and Jack's eyes narrowed when he saw she wasn't backing down. He licked his lips and settled for a different tactic, "If you come with us you're just going to hold us back. Do you really think we have time to look after you and keep an eye on Pitch and search for Max all at the same time?" she blinked at the harshness of his words but kept her chin held high, masking her expression with indifference and firm resolve. Jack must have realized he hit a nerve because he continued, "Can you fly? Can you defend yourself against someone with magical powers? I don't know, maybe you're Mother Nature or something and just never told me," he snapped and she felt her shoulders sag a bit as she squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to tell herself that what he was saying didn't make sense and that she still had a right to go with them. She tried to tell herself that his words didn't sting. "You'll only be a burden to us if you come. You know you will."
Alice swallowed and felt tears burn her eyes. She knew he was right but she didn't want to admit it out loud. She couldn't bring herself to accept the fact that this was something beyond her mortal self, that she'd only be a hindrance if she tagged along. She couldn't bring herself to admit that this was a fight she would have to stay out of because she was the only one who was supposed to fight for Max. It was her job as his mother to fight for him and she couldn't this time. She wasn't capable of bringing him back and that tore at her heart more than she cared to admit.
Jack softened a bit at the obvious distress that flickered across her face, stiffening her features and making her eyes red-rimmed and glossy. He leaned against his staff because he didn't feel comfortable to physically try and comfort her. He didn't know how to.
"We're going to find him Alice," he said earnestly. She sniffed and nodded but the action held no resolve. She tried telling herself that yes, they would find him and they would bring him back to her, but she couldn't bring herself to believe it. "Even if this comes to a fight, we'll get him back. We won't back down so easily. You're just going to have to trust us."
"So you expect me to just sit here and wait," she said. It sounded like it was meant to be a question but her tone of voice suggested she was dully repeating what he already told her.
"It's the safest place for you," Jack said again. "I don't think you should go back home right now. We really don't know if what got Max is looking to get you too. I'm not willing to risk it," he told her and she felt a hint of gratitude at the fact that he was keeping her best interests at heart but it was immediately overshadowed by the reminder that they were going to look for Max while she just stayed behind and twiddled her thumbs. Useless.
She crossed her arms again and looked the other way because she felt too cowardly to look at him even though his eyes were boring holes into the side of her face in open concern.
"What do you expect me to do about everyone else? My work, his school, our family. They're going to wonder where we are."
Jack contemplated the question. "You have your phone, right?"
She absently dabbed her front and back pockets, idly remembering when she dropped the phone back at the house because she was panicking. She opened her mouth to tell him she didn't have it but she felt the square outline of it resting in her back pocket and she pulled it out in surprise. She couldn't recall picking it back up. Though, in her defense, there were a lot of things she didn't remember about the past few hours. Something about her mind repressing the bad memories to refrain from stressing her out and keeping her sane. She remembered reading about stuff like that in her Psychology class in high school.
"Great," Jack perked up once he saw the device in her hand. "Just call everyone and give them an excuse that would keep you out of work and him out of school for a few days. Maybe something that would take you out of town? So your aunt and uncle don't worry about not seeing you."
Alice bit the inside of her cheek. "I guess I'll think of something," she said softly.
Jack's eyebrows crinkled and he took a careful step forward to place a hand on her shoulder, stroking the fabric of her jacket with gentle fingers. "Hey," he said quietly. "It's going to be okay. I know this is hard for you and I get it, but we're going to figure it out."
Alice felt her lower lip tremble as the weight of the day's events began to weigh heavy in the pit of her stomach. "If anything happens to him…" she shook her head, eyes finally meeting his with a look so intense and somber that he had to jerk his head back a bit.
"It won't," he said. He sounded so sure of himself and she wished she had that kind of resolve. "We'll get him back. I promise, Alice."
"Don't," she said suddenly. Jack frowned and she shook her head again. "Please don't make promises you can't keep."
Maybe it was the exhausted way she held herself, like she'd somehow already given up even though they hadn't even started, or the broken way her voice expelled the words she spoke. Regardless, Jack felt a determination swelling within him that he hadn't felt since he first tried finding ways to get Jamie to believe in him.
"I don't," he told her seriously.
She gazed at him and their eyes connected, holding the stare as the world around them seemed to shift. Wordlessly, she was putting her faith in him to bring her son back. She was trusting him to find Max and even though she wasn't fully sure she could put that kind of trust in him, she accepted the fact that she didn't have much of a choice. And she figured that out of all the people or creatures in the world, he was probably one of the few who intended to keep their word.
But whether he could or not was another thing entirely.
"Call your aunt and whoever else you need to," Jack said, squeezing her shoulder and pulling her out of her poisonous thoughts. "As soon as we hear anything, I'll come to you. Promise."
Jack hesitated for a moment before he made to step closer to her and Alice couldn't explain it but her mind forced her to take a step back and out of his reach. She couldn't tell if he was aiming to hug her or squeeze her other shoulder or what it was, but she just couldn't.
"Thanks Jack," she muttered and she had the good nature of appearing somewhat apologetic by avoiding his advances.
Jack nodded to himself and stepped back again, his hand feeling oddly cold as it dropped from her shoulder. "Right," he said, clenching his fist and forcefully pulling it down to his side. He nodded a bit and gave her a tight smile before turning on the balls of his heels and slowly making his way out of the room.
Alice bit her bottom lip so hard she almost drew blood. "And Jack?" she called, stopping the winter spirit just as he reached the threshold of the grand doorway. He turned to face her with an expectant look on his face, staff tossed over his shoulder. She bit her lip again and wringed her fingers nervously. "Please be careful," she said, unsure of what else she could say.
A small smile pulled up at the corners of his lips and he gave her a single nod before continuing out of the room and down the corridor where she could hear the idle chatter of the other Guardians as they waited for his return.
She felt rooted to the spot and the only thing that enabled her to move was when the air pulsed and the Guardians teleported out of the workshop. She sighed heavily, leaning forward to brace her hands on her knees as she tried to steady her breathing. She could feel her heart hammering painfully in her chest, threatening to make her feel dizzy and disoriented but she swallowed the feeling down and sniffed her tears away before they could fall.
A grunt echoed from the doorway and startled her upright. A large creature, furry and brown with beady eyes and burly shoulders peeked in at her from the doorframe and she had to force the scream down her throat before she scared both it and herself. It watched her for a few moments before disappearing back around the wall and out of sight, aside from its looming shadow that cascaded over the floor in the threshold. It must have been assigned to watch her.
She sighed again and ran a hand down her face in exhaustion. The bed looked incredibly inviting but she knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep even if she tried. Her mind was racing too fast for her to keep up and she didn't see a nap anywhere in her future, as appealing as one sounded. She figured it'd been at least eighteen hours or so since she last slept.
Alice slowly made her way towards the rocking chair that was nestled in front of the fire. She deposited herself bodily onto it and allowed it to rock her for a few moments as she watched the flames dance within the hearth of the mantle.
She glanced down at the phone that continued to rest in her hand and with an unsteady breath, she opened up her contacts and began scrolling through the list. It didn't take long before she reached Aunt Liza's name and she selected it, thumb hovering over the phone icon. She couldn't tell her that they were visiting her parents because she was under the impression that Aunt Liza chatted with her sister on a regular basis and she was well attuned to the fact that her sister and niece weren't on the best of terms. She'd most likely call to verify the visit.
She couldn't say that her and Max took a spontaneous vacation because that would just be impractical. She had work and he had school and winter vacation was almost up. She needed a good, believable excuse for them to just up and leave with no warning.
Licking her lips, she sucked in a deep breath before pressing the dial button and holding the phone up to her ear. Based on the fact that it was early in the morning, she knew her aunt would most likely be on her way to work and unable to pick up the phone. That worked out in her favor because she didn't want to have to actually speak to her. She didn't know how convincing she'd be able to sound if she heard her aunt's voice. She didn't know if she'd be able to hold herself together.
Once the automated message rang asking to leave a voicemail, Alice cleared her throat and the familiar beep droned.
"Hey Aunt Liza it's me, um," she winced and pursed her lips. "There was a sudden appeal of my case with Max and I've been asked to fly back to Ohio with him to get it all taken care of. It was pretty last minute, we're actually getting ready to board the plane now," she eyed her surroundings absently, watching as the curtains blew in tune with the chilly breeze as it pierced through the open doors.
She felt guilty having to lie to her aunt and anxious that she'd be able to see through the façade but she quickly pushed the worries aside.
"Don't worry, had enough money in my savings for a red eye. I called Max out of school for the week and my work was really understanding, so. Yeah. Hopefully all of this can be taken care of soon so I can bring Max back home," she placed her fingers over her eyes as if to physically hold back the waterworks. She had to swallow in order to avoid clearing her throat because her voice was threatening to crack. She just wanted to collapse into a tiny ball and sob. "Um. Okay. Love you, talk to you soon."
She quickly hung up the phone and dropped it in her lap before covering her face with her hands. A choked sob was muffled in her palms and she breathed shakily as her chest wracked with uneasy palpitations, alternating between gasping for air and vibrating with unwavering cries that echoed in the silent room. She felt broken.
Jack felt vaguely sick as he was forced through one of North's portals. He landed less than gracefully on the grass just outside the woods on the edge of Burgess. He paused for a moment on his hands and knees as his equilibrium tried to right itself and he didn't feel so nauseous like he'd been stretched across the continent.
North landed brusquely next to him and Tooth and Sandy appeared on his other side as Bunny emerged through one of his tunnels. With a muffled groan, Jack picked himself up and stepped forward to grab his staff that landed a few feet away. When he held it in his grasp, he turned around to face the trees that loomed above them. There were a few wayward leaves clinging to the branches with what little ounce of energy they had left and melted snow coated the ground in slippery puddles and clumps beneath the trunks.
Jack recognized the trail that led to Pitch's lair, remembering quite vividly that it wasn't too far of a walk through the woods. He turned back to face the others who had congregated in a small group behind him. North pulled his swords free from their scabbards that were strapped to his back and examined the shiny blades. Tooth seemed tense as she fluttered a few inches off the ground but for the most part Bunny and Sandy were indifferent as they watched the trees, though Sandy's eyes were quite shifty as he waited for someone to speak.
"So what's the plan?" Jack asked, gripping his staff tightly and feeling the wind gliding around his ankles as if waiting for instructions to thrust him off the ground.
North quickly replaced his swords and adjusted his red coat. "Plan is simple," he announced. He glanced towards Bunny and Sandy. "We will interrogate Pitch and you and Tooth will go to girl's house and search for evidence."
Jack didn't speak for a second as he thrust his head forward, contemplating if he heard the man right. "Wait what?" he asked when it registered in his brain that North was finished speaking. "No, I have every intention of interrogating Pitch with you if it's all the same to you," he stated, jaw taut. Just because he felt a bit sorry for the Nightmare King did not mean that he wouldn't unleash a world of hurt if he ended up being Max's kidnapper. He thoroughly planned to stick around to find out the truth and his staff hummed beneath his fingers at the thought of a good fight.
"You are only one who knows where girl lives," North sounded exasperated. "It's best to check area of kidnapping in case anything was left behind that may give us a clue of who took the boy."
"That doesn't make any sense," Jack squinted, irritation bubbling in the pit of his stomach. "You've been to her house before when you delivered the presents. And what kind of evidence do you expect me to find? The window broke," Jack rattled off on his fingers. "We ran into the room, Max was gone. What else is there?"
"I have routes to take when I deliver presents. I may remember names, but I do not remember locations," North said pointedly and Jack rolled his eyes.
"Some magical beings leave fingerprints behind," Tooth intercepted before an argument could break out. Jack glanced over at her, glare intact. "Not the kind of fingerprints humans have. It's kind of different," she gave a half shrug and a sensitive smile. "It's always worth a shot to look."
"She's right," Bunny said and Jack scoffed because of course Bunny would agree to something Jack didn't just to spite him. "We've got to explore all our options, mate. If you want to find the kid you've got to look everywhere. No need to go in half-cocked and ready to dish out punches when you haven't checked everywhere else first," the Pooka crossed his arms over his furry chest. "As hard as it's gotta be for you, you need to think rationally."
"Was that an insult?" Jack asked rhetorically, tilting his head up as if the sky had all the answers. "I'm pretty sure that was an insult. Which means this is entirely justified," he then pointed his staff towards Bunny and a beam of frost emitted from the tip, nailing the warrior bunny in the face and causing him to sputter and flail.
"Now is not the time!" North bellowed, balling his hands into fists. "This is why we always need to separate you two. This is last time I say this: Jack and Tooth, search girl's house. Bunny and Sandy, come with me to visit Pitch."
With that, North began stomping with a purpose towards the line of tall pine trees and leaving no room for complaints. Bunny huffed and gave Jack a this-isn't-over glare before bounding after the jolly man and leaving Sandy to shrug pathetically at Jack's heated scowl. The sandman hopped onto his golden sand cloud and floated after the two and Tooth was left to flutter awkwardly next to Jack as he cursed beneath his breath and flexed his hands that were sparkling with frost.
Once the flare of adrenaline eased out of his system, Jack lifted his head to meet Tooth's gaze. She gave him somewhat of a half-smile and lifted a shoulder in compromise.
"Want to show me where she lives?"
With a sigh and one last scowl at the border of the woods the other Guardians had disappeared into, Jack commanded the wind and he was tossed in the air. Tooth's luminescent wings flapped madly as she thrust forward to catch up with him and Jack led the way to Alice's house. He didn't have to think about where she lived, knew he could probably find his way to her house in his sleep, so he spent the majority of the flight silently steaming about the fact that he wasn't where he was supposed to be. Hunting down Pitch.
He lowered his altitude slowly to give Tooth warning before plummeting towards the ground and planting his feet on the path before Alice's front door. Tooth joined him a few seconds later. Jack made for the door but quickly backtracked once he remembered he locked it on his way out and ambled for the side of the house where the bedroom window was still very much missing. Jack's gut twisted in worry as he hoped no one saw the obvious opportunity to sneak into the house and steal something valuable. That was mainly why he'd frozen time, so no one would have been able to.
Wordlessly, Jack climbed through the window, cringing when his bare feet landed on the shards of broken glass.
"Watch your footing," he said tonelessly, knowing that Tooth probably wouldn't physically set a single foot inside the house. His theory was proved right when he glanced over his shoulder and saw her shiny wings fluttering and carrying her around the room a few inches above him, eyeing the broken glass with unconcealed disturbance.
They silently began to scour the room for anything odd or out of place that might point them in the right direction of who took Max. Jack shuffled around near the bed, checking underneath for anything that might have fallen and looking behind the nightstand that rested to the left of the window's ledge. Tooth examined the other side of the room and they mostly kept to themselves until Jack couldn't contain his annoyance any longer.
"I shouldn't be here," he said roughly, tossing a pillow out of his way with a bit more force than necessary. Tooth glanced over at him from her perch near the dresser and threw him a curious look. "I should be with North and the others," he elaborated, leaning against the bed as his eyes gazed over the faint outline of a small body that was still imprinted in the sheets where Max once laid. "Pitch has to know something. It's the only thing that makes sense. And if he took Max…" Jack had to swallow the rage pooling in his throat. He still wanted to hit something. Maybe if he'd just stayed a little longer by the woods and punched a few trees to rid himself of the adrenaline. "I feel like it's my fault that Max was taken and if Pitch was the one who did it, I want to be there when he admits it so I can hit him. Hard and repeatedly. And then get Max back."
"Not the best at bargaining, are you?" Tooth asked with a soft hint of amusement in her voice. Jack huffed a snort and gripped the sheets tighter in his pale fists. The fairy studied him for a moment. "Why do you think it's your fault?"
"Because I was with her," he hissed. "I was distracting her. She should have been with Max. He was scared of all the storms and needed her by his side so he could sleep. But since I was there, she was with me instead," he shook his head in regret, grinding his teeth. "We only left him alone for ten minutes tops, but it ended up being just enough time for something to get him."
There was a beat of silence. "You didn't know Max was going to get taken," Tooth tried to reassure him and he couldn't help but notice the edge in her voice. It was like the conversation was making her feel uncomfortable, like it was odd for her to try and comfort him. Jack supposed it was because she never actually had to comfort him before.
"That's not entirely true," Jack admitted and he could feel Tooth's piercing gaze on his forehead as he continued to avoid eye contact. "Alice told me that Max saw something in his window the other night. He said something was looking right at him with bright, glowing eyes. It scared him and it was one of the reasons he didn't want to sleep alone. He was afraid something was going to take him," he felt guiltier the longer he kept talking and he squeezed the bedsheets tighter in his fists. "And look what happened," he mocked with a wry smile.
Tooth seemed stunned to hear that someone was watching Max before the kidnapping, but nothing about the thing's appearance seemed to register anything recognizable in her mind so she didn't comment on it.
"That still doesn't mean it's your fault," she stated firmly. "You had no way of knowing that something was going to attack that night. You said it yourself, he was only left alone for ten minutes. And he was in the house. At home. Somewhere most would typically deem safe," her voice was soothing but also firm, leaving no room for arguing. "You had no way of knowing that something was going to break in. You'd have to be able see the future and even though you are many things, Jack Frost," there was an underlying sense of innocent teasing in her tone of voice. "I don't believe psychic is one of them."
They were quiet for a few minutes and Jack idly wondered if Tooth had gone back to searching through the room. Her words did little to soothe his inner turmoil but he appreciated the effort even though he didn't speak his gratitude out loud.
He pushed himself away from the bed and shook the dangerous thoughts that were swimming around inside his head. Thoughts of guilt, of berating himself, of wondering if Alice blamed him too, or worse… if she blamed herself.
"What exactly am I supposed to be looking for?" Jack threw his arms up as he twisted every which way, doing what he did best as he avoided the conversation they just had as if it never happened. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the room besides the broken glass and flurrying curtains that were stained from the elements outside. "What kind of fingerprints do magical beings leave?"
"Well," she sang quietly and buzzed over to where he was standing facing the window. There were bits of jagged glass still connected to the window frame towards the top corner and Jack's gaze was momentarily distracted by the reflections in the glass. "Sometimes they leave behind a piece of their magic. Most creatures don't even realize they do it and you probably don't realize you do it either. But sometimes a piece of our magic embeds itself in its surroundings. It could be something invisible, like an actual fingerprint, or it could be something you just have to look really hard to find. But all magic leaves behind something. If it's dark magic, it leaves behind these wounds that can sometimes get infected. Like the dark magic is eating away at whatever it's implanted in. That's what we're looking for."
"Vague and maddeningly unhelpful, sounds about right," he nodded sardonically with pursed lips and Tooth had the courtesy to ignore the backhanded comment in favor of heading towards the doorway.
"I'm going to check the rest of the house," she said and disappeared through the hallway without waiting for a response.
Jack slammed his hand against the window frame, feeling the wood crack beneath the pressure and leaving splinters underneath his palm. He clenched his jaw before pulling his hand away and ignoring the obvious indent he left in the frame and the bruising pain that stung at the base of his hand.
"Hopefully North is having better luck than we are," he muttered to himself before grudgingly continuing his search.
North peered down into the dark depths of the narrow hole that was carved out of the ground underneath a rickety iron bed. They were standing in a small clearing towards the center of the woods and nature was quiet around them. No sounds of birds chirping or rustling leaves considering the time of the year. It set the three of them on edge and they didn't have to mention it out loud to understand that the silence had to have been some sort of omen.
The jolly man hesitated for a brief moment, weighing his options, before he tapped the edge of the hole with his large boot. A few pieces of dirt broke off from the pressure and tumbled down into the hole, leaving a small cloud of dust in their wake. He cringed and took a step back, wondering if he should call down into the hole for Pitch and demand he meet them outside.
Bunny gave him an unimpressed look as if he'd been reading the man's thoughts.
"I think we can dispense with the niceties, North," Bunny deadpanned before pouncing in through the open hole without caring for an invitation.
North felt exasperated at the lack of tact but Sandy gave him his signature shrug before taking of in a glittery cloud of gold smoke down into the hole. North sighed and relented, gaining his bearings before jumping down into the hole after them. He couldn't suppress the yell that forced itself through his windpipe as his stomach lodged itself in his throat before he landed with a hefty grunt at the base of the cavern, coughing a bit at the dirt that sprang into his eyes and mouth. Bunny was dusting himself off, having gotten quite used to jumping into deep holes over the years and Sandy hadn't even broken a sweat in his calm drift down into the abyss.
Feeling disgruntled, North hoisted himself up and brushed some of the dirt off his coat before marching after Bunny who began stalking down the nearest corridor with his boomerangs in hand. Or paw, rather. North followed his example and pulled his swords out, holding them protectively in front of himself as he inched through a narrow passageway in the underground tunnel. The air was moist and thick, making North feel as though it was cutting off the oxygen to his brain and making him feel disoriented, but he kept onward with a determined stomp in his step.
"Pitch!" he bellowed once they reached the threshold of the passageway, entering a much larger room that extended high into a great chasm with stalagmites protruding from the ground in threatening spikes and stalactites dangling from the rocky ceiling. It made North feel caged in and Bunny tossed him an incredulous look over his shoulder at the obvious announcement of their presence and North shook his head, waving Bunny's concerns away because Pitch was bound to find out they were invading his territory at some point. It was better to get it over with rather than hold out on the inevitable.
North's voice bounced off the walls, vibrating in their spines at the great volume but they were met with no response.
"Hey Pitch, pizza delivery!" Bunny shouted, thumping one of his boomerangs against his paw in a threatening manner as if the act alone would intimidate Pitch out of hiding.
After their ears ceased their ringing from the relentless echoing and heard no other noise, North was beginning to wonder if their visit had been rendered moot. He exchanged wary glances with Sandy who was floating nearby on his dream sand with a skeptical look in his eye. North opened his mouth, ready to suggest that maybe Pitch just wasn't home, but the three of them were startled by the sound of a gratingly familiar voice.
"Oh what the bloody hell do you lot want?" came Pitch's whining tone as if he just couldn't get the Guardians off his back.
The three of them whipped around to face the direction his voice came, adopting defensive positions as the cloaked Boogeyman stood with his hands behind his back in the threshold of another passageway a few feet to their right. He looked the same as he did the last time North had seen him – greying skin shadowed by darkness that loomed around the edges of his jawline and cheekbones, a ring of glimmering yellow surrounding his pupils, narrowed into slits like a reptile that was stalking its prey. He looked ever the part of a monster creeping through the night, slithering through the dark with flashing eyes that glinted in the moonlight. Worthy of scaring unsuspecting children in the middle of the night, North would presume.
He raised his eyebrows at their defensive statures and released a mocking laugh that could curdle milk. "I don't remember inviting everyone over for a hunting party. Sorry, it must be such a bother coming all this way. It really is nice to see the gang back together. Well," he countered with a tilt of his head. "Most of the gang, anyway."
"Enough with the chitchat, Pitch," Bunny growled, raising a boomerang at the Nightmare King in attempt to deter him from making any sudden attacks. "We're here for the kid."
Pitch adapted an innocent expression. "Whatever are you talking about? There haven't been any children here for some time. If you have the brain capacity to remember that far back, you took my powers, did you not? As much as I would love to have children cowering in my lair, I'm going to have to disappoint you."
"A boy has gone missing," said North, metaphorically stepping between Bunny and Pitch before a war could erupt. "Quite young, blonde hair and blue eyes—"
"I'm sorry, I don't know where Snowflake has run off to at the moment but if I see him I'll be sure to let him know you're worried. He's so disobedient, that one; enjoys staying out after curfew just to prove that he's capable of bending the rules. Do send him my regards if you find him, though," Pitch smirked in mock sympathy.
"We are not talking about Jack, Pitch!" North barked, waving one of his swords at the Boogeyman in warning to keep his distance. As it would seem, Pitch didn't appear to have any interest in moving from his current spot. He was watching them with an entertained smile, as if they were playing a ridiculously amusing prank on him. "He is a young boy, no older than seven. He was taken last night, house broken into."
"Wouldn't happen to know anything about that would ya, Edward Cullen?"
North didn't seem to understand the joke but Pitch narrowed his eyes in Bunny's direction, though his entertained smile did not waver.
"No, I'm afraid I don't," Pitch said, ever the image of naivety.
"Funny," Bunny sneered. "Because North isn't able to track the kid on his Globe which means someone's got him hidden and you're the only one who's been inside the workshop besides us who knows how the thing works."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, it's so," snapped Bunny, fur rising along his spine in unbridled irritation. "Let's cut the bullshit and stop assuming that you're the picture of innocence here because I'm sure you've found a way to get your powers back by now. Unless that's just out of your range of ability which, don't get me wrong, wouldn't surprise me in the least but I tend to see the best in people," he shrugged with a spiteful grin. "Call it a weakness."
Pitch's lip curled and he seemed to be through with the playful act. "Do I look like I have my powers back you sniveling, insufferable idiot?" he spat. Bunny seemed momentarily taken aback by the fierce name-calling and his ears nearly folded down to his head before he barred his teeth. "Do you think I'd be spending all my time down here cowering in the dark if I did? Do you really think that's something I enjoy doing in my free time?" Pitch thrust his arms outward, gesturing to the dank getup he was surrounding with as if the answer were obvious. "I did have a plan, if you must know, but that's kind of gone topside at the moment considering I still don't have them," he snarled with a feral look in his eye. North half expected him to start foaming at the mouth like a rabid animal. "I'm fairly certain you would know if I did because I have more than earned the right to deliver some hearty payback after the way you treated me."
"Quit being so dramatic," Bunny said, staring down at Pitch as if he were the scum of the Earth or the dirt on his paws. "Stop trying to make us sound like the bad guys here. You were the one torturing innocent kids, mate. That one is on you."
"This is all beside the point!" North waved his arms around to gain their attention. His usual jolly features were wrinkled up in annoyance and two sets of eyes turned on him. North leveled Pitch with a steely glare. "Have you seen child or not?"
"Not," Pitch answered snidely.
Bunny rounded on him with his boomerangs at the ready. "Why is it that I don't believe you?"
"You have unbearable trust issues?" Pitch asked sardonically.
"I'm gonna hit him," Bunny threatened as if it were North's queue to hold him back in case he actually went through with it. Judging by the way his arms were shaking, North figured it was safe to assume he was strongly considering it. North accepted the opportunity and held a cautionary sword in front of Bunny to block his rage-induced path.
"Let us just take step back and not do something we regret," North advised wisely, earning an incensed look from Sandy who continued floating nearby with a wad of dream sand hovering above his outstretched palm in case he needed to use it.
"Oh brilliant," Pitch praised, tone dripping with infuriating sarcasm as he clasped his hands together. "Santa Claus is protecting me, I feel ever so grateful."
North squinted at him. "Do you want me to let him hit you?" he challenged and Pitch's eye twitched. "If what you say is true about not having powers, I would assume that would be highly unwise on your part."
Pitch relented with a roll of his eyes and Bunny breathed heavily through his nose at North's left as he watched the Boogeyman hold his hands up in a pacifying manner. North forcefully thrust his sword further in front of Bunny when he saw his boomerangs twitch and Bunny slapped the sword out of his way with a growl, though lowered his weapons after a minute of melting Pitch's skin off with his eyes.
"Now," North spoke up once everyone seemed to calm down for the moment. "Let's assume for time being that Pitch did not take child—…"
"That is what I said, isn't it?" Pitch retorted.
"Shut up," North narrowed his eyes and Pitch smacked his lips but didn't say another word. "If we assume you did not kidnap boy, then do you know who did?" he asked, enunciating each word carefully as if speaking to a toddler.
Pitch pursed his lips. "Why does everyone always assume I have something to do with things involving children?"
Bunny hummed. "Let's just say you have a knack for ruining people's lives on a daily basis."
Pitch gave him an unimpressed look. "Now who's being dramatic?"
"Do you know who took him?" North shouted over the incessant bickering. "Time is of the essence. A child's life is at stake and whether that is important to you or not, it is to us as well as it is to child's mother," he stressed, hoping to somehow convey through his eyes that this was a serious situation. He hoped that maybe his tone would somehow break through the emotionless wall of Pitch's black heart and elicit some sort of sympathy or any shred of humanity he had left. "All we need is a name."
Pitch stared at him with an unreadable expression but his gaze didn't falter as he said carefully, "I don't know who took him."
North furrowed his eyebrows, trying to decode that weird look on his face and if it'd somehow prove that the Nightmare King was lying but he didn't get very far before Bunny was hissing again.
"I don't think we threatened him enough," he said, lifting a boomerang as if taking aim.
"Technically you didn't threaten me at all," Pitch uttered as if his mouth didn't have a filter and Bunny's chest rumbled with another growl.
"That can be arranged," and the next minute the warrior bunny was face to face with the Boogeyman, eyes sharp and murderous and Pitch shouted, "hey, hey, hey!" as the tip of the boomerang was pressed against his throat, brushing against the tender flesh every time he swallowed.
North jumped forward with Sandy hot on his heels as he attempted to pull the Pooka away before he ended up killing him. Bunny fought against North's restraining hands, knocking against the sword North hadn't had the time to sheath and causing it clatter loudly on the stone ground beneath them. North grunted and forcefully wrestled Bunny away from Pitch who was gazing on with blinking eyes and rubbing his long fingers along the skin of his neck.
"You want a threat, mate?" Bunny taunted. "I'll give you a threat!"
"This is not helping," North protested, pulling Bunny back a few feet. He shoved him off to the side and into Sandy's awaiting lasso that wrapped around his torso and held him in place. North ran a tired hand through his beard and retrieved his sword before Pitch got any ideas. He held it casually in front of himself to keep up appearances though he didn't actually believe he would need to use it. Panting a bit at the fight Bunny put up, North trained his exasperation on Pitch. "Do you have any useful information for us? Any idea who could have taken him?"
"This was a waste of time," Bunny jeered from his rigid position in Sandy's dream sand. He seemed annoyed at having to be restrained but he didn't necessarily fight to free himself either.
"No, I don't who did it, okay? Do you have all the information you came for now?" Pitch waved his arms at them as if shooing away a diseased stray dog. "Can you leave now?"
"You didn't give us any information you spineless—…!"
"Bunnymund, enough," North held his hand up and commanded the warrior bunny silent. He received a heated glare in return but his orders were followed nonetheless. He then turned to Pitch who was staring at Bunny like one would stare at a wounded animal they felt sorry for but didn't bother trying to save. "Yes, we got what we came for. We're leaving now," he said pointedly, directing his words towards Bunny even though his gaze was held firmly on Pitch. He backed away and thrust a hand towards Sandy. "Come."
Pitch suffered one last glare from Bunny before the three Guardians made their way out of the cavern, Pitch's emotionless smile following them all the way out to the surface.
"This is useless!" Jack yelled, kicking Alice's bedside. The damage was mostly done on his toes and he winced a bit but the anger he felt boiling in his blood didn't cease. "There's nothing here!" he tossed the comforter off the bed for good measure, breathing deeply as he stared at the headboard.
Tooth had returned to the bedroom not long after she thoroughly searched the house for any clues or prints that were left behind. Unsurprisingly she came up empty-handed and the thought that they'd ransacked the entire house for nothing nearly sent him over the edge. Tooth understood that his emotions were running haywire ever since Max's disappearance and she was able to tolerate and sometimes even lighten the mood swings, but it was clearly taking its toll on her mentality as she rubbed her feathery temple with her fingers.
"At least we looked," she tried in vain because he huffed not two seconds after the words slipped through her lips. "The second we didn't check there would have been evidence left behind. At least we nipped that one in the bud," she said sternly and it made Jack halt a bit in his endeavor to piss himself and anyone else around him off as her tone was probably the harshest he'd ever heard coming from her, which wasn't saying much considering how soft-spoken she was a hundred and nine percent of the time.
"I just…" he wiped both his hands down his face, stretching the skin as his palms ran down his cheeks roughly. He worried his bottom lip as he pulled his hands away, clenching them into fists and leaving crescent-shaped indents in the skin as his nails pressed into the flesh. "I just hate having to go back there and telling Alice that we didn't find anything. I don't know how she's going to react. I don't…" he stopped himself, feeling a lump gather in his throat and he had to wait a moment before he could swallow it down. "I don't know how she's going to take it. I can't go back there without making some sort of progress. I can't let her down like that," he ran a hand through his hair causing a few strands to stick up at odd ends, making him appear younger than he was.
It made Tooth smile fondly at him, if only for a brief second.
"You tried and it's the thought that counts."
He snorted. "That's not enough. That's… that's nothing. That gets us nowhere. We might as well have not tried at all unless we have something to show for it."
Tooth sighed and let him believe what he wished because she didn't seem to have the energy to argue with him anymore.
Jack tried glancing about the room one more time, just one more time in case there was anything obvious he could have missed, but he'd been staring at the room for a good half hour now and he almost felt like he'd rather toss himself off a cliff than have to stick around any longer. It was stifling in the house despite the obvious breeze fluttering in through the open window and he felt like he was going to lose his mind if he didn't get out of there soon.
"Let's just go," he muttered, considering picking up the comforter just so it wouldn't be on the floor when she came back but not having it in him to actually go forth with the action. He turned before Tooth could say anything and made for the window, treading lightly over the shards of glass and stopping short at the ledge before lifting himself up and over the frame, landing lightly in the grass on the other side. He waited for Tooth to catch up, could hear her tiny wings flapping on the other side of the room, and he licked his lips in anticipation, hoping the others had better news than they did. Though, considering the circumstances, it wouldn't necessarily be news they wanted to hear.
Jack made to back up and give the fairy space to fly through the window when something glittery caught his eye. He paused, halfway through turning around to face away from the house, and he narrowed his eyes at the dull but clearly visible mark that was imprinted on the windowsill just shy of the frame. He stepped closer to the window, holding a hand up when Tooth made to flutter through the air beside him. He squinted, unable to see too well as the murky clouds prevented him from any useful visibility and unfortunately his Guardianship didn't provide him with super eyesight. Against his better judgement, the mark looked like an oddly-shaped handprint. And usually a handprint couldn't be left in wood unless it was severely rotted and decayed (which it was not) but it seemed to have burned some sort of marking in the wood.
And strangely enough, it looked like it was coated in flecks of gold.
Tooth was giving him a questioning look as she watched him peer at the base of the windowsill and he gestured her forward, stepping out of the way so she could come through the window.
"Take a look at this," he said. She buzzed through the window and came to stand at his right, bending down a bit to get a clean look at the mark. She made a curious hum in the back of her throat as she spotted it and leveled her face with the print.
"That's interesting," she noted.
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Does it look familiar to you at all?"
Her delicate eyebrows were furrowed and she shook her head. "No, but… is that what I think it is?" she asked. "Is that gold?"
"Looks like," Jack said. He wasn't an expert on what real gold looked like but it was the only obvious explanation he could think of it. Not that it was a logical one, but who said their situation made any sort of sense?
Tooth peeled away a small piece of the wood with gold speckled on it. "No harm in taking a sample," she lifted the offending piece and stood straight, wings flitting to life behind her and lifting her a foot off the ground. It brought the piece eye level with Jack and he gazed at it in muddled confusion. "That really is gold," she said, sounding shocked.
"Think it was a leprechaun looking for his pot of gold?" he asked, attempting to make light of the situation but Tooth didn't seem to view the question as such because she shook her head gravely.
"I wouldn't rule it out. Leprechauns are notoriously known for their love of gold. They practically go hand in hand."
Jack blinked. It's not that he didn't believe in the existence of leprechauns. He'd crossed paths with a few of them, most of which were decidedly unpleasant experiences he didn't wish to relive. They had short tempers and despised strangers. They were greedy and possessive of any items they deemed of great value and were nearly impossible to work with, not that he ever tried to directly but he heard stories. He sincerely hoped that wasn't what they were dealing with because he didn't know if he'd have the patience. Not that they were terribly hard to find. It'd been raining for days. All they needed to do was find a rainbow and follow it to the end.
"We should head back to the workshop," Tooth broke him out of his trance and Jack shook the thoughts away. "Hopefully they're back by now and have something more useful to tell us."
She kept a hold of the piece of wood as they flew back north. It didn't escape Jack's notice that he once again drew the short straw because neither of them had any snow globes nor helpfully fast methods of transportation. The travel was cut in half in comparison to when he flew with Alice because he didn't have her extra weight added to the equation but it wasn't any less annoying.
They reached the Pole in record time and when Jack was about to fly down to the back entrance where he arrived last time, Tooth continued on. With a curious tilt of his head, Jack quickly caught up with her as she spiraled around the mountain pass and dove down towards the atrium's sparkling roof. There was a small opening towards the top and she quickly darted through it.
"I'll be damned," Jack murmured as he followed her. He wondered if that spot was always open or if it was just because North expected the other Guardians to be dashing in and out of the workshop and he wanted to give them easy access.
Obviously the other three were already there when he and Tooth arrived. Bunny was pacing angrily back and forth, ignoring North who was seemingly trying to ease his frustration with a finger on his temple a few feet away. Sandy was glancing between the two as if he were entranced in a vicious tennis match.
"Was it Pitch? Did he do anything?" Jack demanded the second his feet touched the ground. Bunny visibly tensed at the mention of the Boogeyman and Jack's eyes flicked anxiously between him and North.
"Bah!" Bunny tossed his long arms in the air before slinking away in a fitful of furry rage.
Jack's eyes followed his retreating form before circling back to North's exhausted face. "What does that mean?" he tossed a thumb over his shoulder. "I don't know what that means."
"It means Bunny is unable to control his anger," North stated, ignoring the muffled 'I heard that!' from off in the distance. He waved his beefy hand in the direction Bunny's voice came as if to physically brush the words away. "Pitch did not take Maximillian nor does he know who did. We are back at square one unless you two found something."
Jack's hopes hadn't been too high to begin with but he still felt them sink down to his feet at the fact that they had literally nothing to go on. He almost felt like storming off much like Bunny had but he refrained in fear of North pulling his swords on him for acting 'childish'. Instead, he stuck with crossing his arms across his chest like a petulant child and looked the other way, jaw tense. He had no idea what he was going to tell Alice.
"Well we did find something," Tooth mentioned hesitantly, outstretching her tiny hand towards North with the piece of wood resting in the center. The flecks of gold glittered off the decorations in the atrium, casting small orbs of light along the ceiling like a little disco ball. North's forehead creased in curiosity as he carefully extracted the wood from her palm. "Not sure what it is or if it's anything to go on really," she chuckled nervously, running her fingers over the feathers on her head. "But there was a handprint on the window where whatever it was broke through to take Max. It was covered in gold," she fluttered anxiously around him as North examined the piece of wood that looked more like a splinter in his large hand. "Does it look like anything you might recognize?"
"I don't think so," he said and Jack hissed, tugging at the silvery hair on top of his head in aggravation until his scalp was sore.
"Fucking great," he said, causing North and Tooth to glance at him in surprise. He almost expected them to berate him for his language but he honestly didn't even care. "Just fucking fantastic. We have no leads."
"This is better than nothing," Tooth reminded him, voice gentle again now that she'd had some time to recover from his earlier spats.
"It practically is nothing," he snapped. "What use is a gold handprint going to do if we don't even know who it belongs to?" Jack could almost feel the steam coming out his ears as his body temperature rose. His fingers threatened to expel a blast of ice to get his powers flowing through his core in hopes that it'd lower his temperature back to normal but instead he just kicked himself away from the wall near the fireplace. "Now I get to tell Alice that we made no progress today. She's going to be thrilled."
He backed away with his hands raised in the air in mock victory before making his way down the long corridor to her room, hearing North and Tooth's murmurs of disapproval in his wake. That only managed to make him feel more on edge and without meaning to he hurdled a large ball of ice towards the wall adjacent to him and it shattered into millions of tiny crystalized pieces. It made him feel a little better but the anger was still bubbling haphazardly beneath the surface and he had to pause a few feet away from the closed doors to try and regain some of his composure. Running in like a bat out of hell flinging ice balls would not make Alice feel any more reassured. He had to calm down.
He stood there for a good five minutes, eyes closed as he breathed in slowly and deeply, carefully exhaling as he placed his hands on either side of his head. He pictured Alice's smiling face whenever he said something particular funny that made her face light up and it slowed his heart rate until it no longer felt like his fingers were going to spark with unwanted frost.
He took a great deal of air in through his teeth before cautiously letting it out and deflating his lungs before opening his eyes again. He glanced a bit to the left and saw a large figure huddling by the door in the shadows and he almost jumped out of his skin before he recognized those familiar eyes glowing in reflection of the lamps that were mounted to the walls.
"Thanks Phil, you can go now," he dismissed the yeti and it grunted in something akin to indignation, as if affronted that Jack was the one giving him orders, but he scuttled back down the hallway nonetheless and out of sight. "Christ," Jack muttered before pushing the doors open in case he lost his nerve.
Alice had been lying on the bed staring blankly out at the brightening horizon when she heard the doors being thrust open and she quickly jumped off the bed, slipping around the baseboard and nearly hitting Jack head on before sliding to a stop in front of him.
"Did you find him? Was it Pitch? Where is he?" she tossed question after question at him and he had to steady her with his hands on her shoulders before she toppled over in unrestrained anxiety.
"Whoa, slow down princess," he advised quietly. She swallowed thickly but obeyed and tried to even her breathing as she pulled at the curls that were resting delicately over her shoulder. He absently ran his thumb over the soft strands, circling the little spirals for a moment before he brought his eyes up to meet hers. She must have been able to sense his hesitation because her once bright eyes faded into hopelessness. It nearly tore Jack apart to see her like that and he had to look away because he felt like no matter what he did, it was all his fault. It was his fault Max was taken, it was his fault they didn't find him today or even figured out who took him. It was just all his fault.
Her shoulders sagged beneath his hands and he gripped her tightly, pressing the pads of his fingers into the back of her shoulders.
"We didn't find anything. North doesn't seem to think it was Pitch who took him. We might have found something that could have been left behind by whoever took him. It looked like a handprint. But we have no way of tracking it back to whoever made it, so I feel like it's almost pointless to try but we're going to anyway. We might get lucky and…" he trailed off when he felt her shoulders beginning to shake. He glanced up at her in alarm and saw one of her hands covering her mouth as her watery eyes squinted behind the tears. "Alice…" his voice cracked a bit as she violently shook her head. She tried pulling away from his insistent grip but he wouldn't let her.
"Jack, just let me go. Please just let me go. Let me go!" she violently ripped herself out of his grip and he could feel the ghost of her touch on his skin and he found that the air felt too cold without her warmth beneath his palms and he surged forward, pulling her back into him no matter how roughly she fought him.
"No Alice," he said, softly but firmly as he dragged her into his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her back as she cried into his neck. Her arms were pulled up into her chest, one of her hands still clasped around her mouth and the other resting near it as she sobbed.
"I need Max," she cried fitfully, wet voice muffled by his hoodie as he stroked his fingers along her spine to try and calm her down. He grinded his teeth and tried to smothers his emotions down before they took over his actions and made him accidentally hurt her. "I need him, Jack… I—I've got to get him back, he's—he's my everything. Please…"
"We're gonna find him," Jack said and even he thought he sounded like a broken record. He raised one of his hands to cup the back of her head, fingers lacing through her curly hair as his thumb stroked the sensitive skin on her neck. He kept his other arm wound tightly around her back, keeping her close to him and anchoring her as she choked and cried. "I promise Alice, we're gonna find him. I promise," he whispered into her hair, his words being swallowed by her sobs as she shook violently in his arms. "I promise…" he uttered again and he couldn't tell who he was trying to assure at this point. Probably both of them.
"I need him…" she said again. She sounded broken. She felt broken, like she was physically coming apart in his arms and he couldn't do anything to hold her together. He gripped her tighter, pulled her as close to him as he could.
He clenched his jaw. He couldn't escape the thought that Pitch somehow had something to do with this. It was always him. Everything always circled back to him in the end and this was no exception. Jack just had to figure out the best sort of leverage to get the Nightmare King talking.
He raised an eyebrow a bit, her cries sounding muffled as if cotton had clogged his ears. Maybe he didn't need any leverage at all. Maybe he just needed the right way to convince him.
He'd just have to visit Pitch on his own this time. Because he wasn't an idiot. Pitch knew something and Jack was willing to go through hell and back to figure out what it was.
