Chapter 17

"I could not care less as to why you are all here," Pitch says nastily. "I, on the other hand, am only here for Jack, and now that it has been established that you all are even bigger imbeciles than I could have ever imagined we shall be leaving, and none of you will be trying to stop us, or I will lose my temper and kill you all." He had no qualms about carrying through with his threat, having already killed for Jack in the past… stars, was it only a day? It seemed far longer.

"Oh-kay there, maybe we don't want to murder everyone in the room," Jack hedges, gently slipping from under Mother Nature's hand on her shoulder and sidestepping past Toothiana, who makes an aborted move to reach out before catching herself. "I mean, come on, that's way too much work," she jokes, but Pitch can see the worry in her too wide smile, the exaggerated paleness of the knuckles of her hand clenched around her staff as she crosses to him.

He takes in her clothes, stupidly Christmas-y, and how she has the blanket shadow he'd made for her draped round her shoulders, almost regal. It looks interesting, a contradiction much like Jack herself. He fights down the urge to whisk her away from here and away from these buffoons post haste but he tamps it down enough to quietly ask: "Your wounds, do you need anything for them?"

"Nah," Jack says. "It's not so bad. Looks worse than it is." She is leaning close to him - not against him, but still close enough that Pitch can see the slight frost lattice that has started over both her clothes and her staff. She no longer looks quite as terrible as she had when he left her behind, asleep in his - her - a bed, but he is unsure how much of that is bravado in front of the Guardians and how much is her actually recovered.

Speaking of which…

He shoots the surrounding spirits a gimlet eye, reserving a larger amount of his ire for the damned Pooka, almost daring the beast to try something. But instead, it is North who speaks first, almost eerily serious.

"We called you here, both you and Seraphina, to consult for matter we have little information on. Bunny did not mean to cause harm, he acted rashly. We will not keep you from leaving, but will ask you consider to stay long enough to learn why we ask for your help." He turned his attention to Jack. "I would like to think I am good host, but today has been… busy. I offer my apologies, such as they are, to you on this matter."

"Uhh, thanks. For the apology and clothes," Jack says, eyebrows raised in surprise before they gain a more sardonic tilt. "You're not the one who punched me out and kidnapped me, though."

"Is only right to be hospitable!" North declares more jovially. "And you are right. Bunny!" He nudges him none too gently, propelling him forward slightly. "Make apologies to our guest!"

"But I - it wasn't-" Bunnymund sputters while turning from Jack to North and back again, his ears flat and twitching, before his jaw sets rather mulishly. "Fine. I'm sorry. Was only doin' what seemed right at the time, not yer fault that Pitch doesn't have the best track record an' I... jumped ta conclusions."

"Ugh, not this again," Jack sighs, rolling her eyes. "Look, if you really want us to stay and hear you out about whatever's going on, you should stop talking about Pitch."

"We are not staying," Pitch hisses.

"Well, I mean, we probably should," Jack says, looking up at him with a shrug. "We all live on the same planet after all, if something so serious is going on that it warrants tracking down both Mother Nature and the Bogeyman, it's probably important to know about."

Pitch seethes, because damn it all Jack is right. "Fine," he concedes huffily. "What all important reason could you have for gathering us here and kidnapping Jack?"

"That isn't how it-"

"Hush, kangaroo," Jack drawls with a sly grin that Pitch mirrors. "The adults are talking."

"That doesn't even make any sense!" the rabbit insists, oblivious to the chuckle that Sanderson is covering his mouth to hide and Toothiana's quickly hidden smile as she tugs him back.

North's eyes twinkle with mirth before he clears his throat. "Yes, important why we called you here. Information was given to me by Manny, about water acting strangely as of late. Lakes drying up with no warning, storms coming from out of nowhere, ships vanishing without trace. Has happened several times, in different places." He looks to Seraphina, then Pitch. "You are both old, and know this planet well, though in different ways. I thought perhaps we could put heads together, figure out what is going on."

"What, like I know some monstrous sea creature from the depths of the ocean that likes causing trouble?" Pitch scoffs. At the alert looks that gains him he gives an eye roll of his own. "I was joking."

"I have a question," Jack pipes up curiously. "Who is Manny? I've never heard of a spirit going by that name."

"Manny is Man in the Moon," North explains.

"...The Moon is a person?" Jack asks incredulously. "How? I thought the Moon was just - the Moon. I mean, it's just hanging there in the sky. If he's a person…" She turns to Pitch, her eyes like tundra as the ice on her staff spreads up and down in a quiet crackle. "I'm coming with you the next time you yell at him."

Pitch's heart surges. "You are always welcome to do so," he says with an indulgent smile. She smiles back.

"Setting the Moon aside, these all sound like mostly normal weather phenomena, or the result of such," Mother Nature interjects. She stares at Pitch and Jack with a strange, almost sad, look in her eyes, before turning back to North. "I can keep my ears open, but this does not sound like a problem for you to be involved in. What makes the Moon think these are all related, much less a threat?"

North shrugs and sighs. "You know him, how he communicates. Is hard to get much more than what he gives."

The look Mother Nature gives him unimpressed, and if Pitch were in her position he would not be half as restrained in dressing the Santa Claus down. As is, he feels they have far outstayed any half hearted welcome that may have been present to begin with.

"Can we go?" Jack's quiet question catches him off guard a little, but he is more than happy to grant her request.

"Of course," he replies, gently laying his arm across her back and bring her a little closer by the shoulder. "We'll be leaving now," he announces. "Seeing as there is little to be discussed here due to the absolute lack of information you had in the first place. If you feel the need to call us, don't."

"Wait."

Pitch almost snarls but lets himself instead channel his displeasure through the shadows, letting them build up around him on the floor and behind him in preparation to quickly whisk Jack away.

"A moment, Jack," Mother Nature says, gliding across the room to them. "Winter spirits do not heal as quickly as others, and I would be remiss in my duties if I did not look after you." The small smile she gives Jack makes something inside Pitch's brain hurt, she looks just like-

"Thanks," Jack says, bowing her head. "I'm fine though."

"You will be," Seraphina intones. She kisses Jack on the forehead, then stoops slightly to touch their brows together as a soft light emanates from them both. "May you be blessed with vitality, little one." She draws back, then looks to Pitch with her stony green flecked gaze. "I will be watching, Pitch Black."

He nods to her, his shadows already halfway enveloping he and Jack. "I would expect nothing less."

It's been 84 years...

But I am back! Hope everyone is in good health, that those of you who are able to get vaccinated are getting vaccinated, that you are all safe and have a roof over your head and food to eat.

I have actually outlined the rest of this fic and gotten some of that written so we now have an ending in sight. I have yet to decide on a day of the week yet but it will be updated weekly. Can't promise anything for my other fics just yet, as I'm taking this one step (and story) at a time.

Drop a comment if you'd like, and if you want to chat you can hmu over on Twitter at StargateNerrrrd or on Tumblr at sgchan. Fair warning, neither are necessarily SFW.