Chapter 23:
Jack had to work quite hard to keep a grin off his face at the sight the gaping spirits presented. Judging by the way she was stomping and shaking her head, Mei shared his view on the matter.
"Jack?" North asked after a good minute, leaning forward, eyes slightly narrowed. "Is… is it truly you?"
Jack shrugged, bringing his hands up in a sort of 'what can you do' gesture.
"Wh… how did…you… what?"
Amaryllis and Primrose both started sputtering at once while their cohorts continued to stare. Pitch did too, although his gaze was more searching than surprised now.
North, though… North looked far too much like a concerned parent for Jack to be comfortable.
"Jack, what happened to you?" the former Guardian asked, eyes and expression soft, scared and worried all at once.
"Oh, you know…," Jack paused for a long moment.
Then he grinned and shrugged. "Things."
Mei snorted loudly.
"That has to be the most blasé way I have heard someone refer to their own death," Anubis said from his bench. Jack's grin broadened.
Pitch's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms, plainly annoyed. The summer spirits glared while North looked even more worried. Not what Jack had been hoping for, but it was really the best he was going to get.
"But, Jack… it has been almost two years. Where have you been?" North asked, leaning more heavily on his swords as though the effort exhausted him.
"Here and there. All over, really," Jack said, crossing his own arms, bending one knee and tilting his head just so. His grin never left his face.
"How is that… nobody's seen you!" Lilac blurted. "Nobody's seen you since that Easter!"
Jack laughed. "Of course they didn't. I didn't want them to."
This, of course, only served to confuse the spirits while Anubis snickered as he worked.
"Well, nice as this chat has been, I honestly have better things to be doing with my time. I bid you adieu, and I will see you on the other side!" Jack said, turning and raising his hand in a mocking wave as he expanded his aspect.
The wave of nightmare sand that rose to engulf him wasn't entirely unexpected, but at that point Jack's Reaper aspect had swelled enough that it passed right through him. And when it subsided, he was completely invisible to the spirits.
"You didn't," War said, delighted when Jack relayed his tale to her as they and their steeds stood in the sky over Rabat, Morocco.
"I did," Jack laughed. "Man, I don't think I've ever seen anyone so confused. Although Anubis probably didn't get as much work done as he'd have liked."
"Nephthys will help him when she's in the mood. Did you gather the rest of those souls?" War asked.
"Yeah. Do you know where Death is?"
"Realm of the Dead, talking to Hades, I think," War said. "Apollo's been harassing him and Persephone; Death offered assistance."
Jack grinned. "He's going to give them some death hounds, isn't he?"
War cackled. "Black Shuck's already said he'd help, and I don't doubt there'll be others. At least this way Zeus can't complain about it."
"Why should he? Apollo started it."
"He's biased."
"Of course he is," Jack snorted. "Did Persephone ever manage to convince Demeter to let her nymphs help with the demon hunting, speaking of the Greeks?"
"No, but Persephone spoke with the nymphs and they're helping anyway," War said, smirking.
Jack laughed. "That sounds like Persephone."
"Indeed."
Jack and War both turned in their saddles to face Death, mounted on his own steed and having apparently materialized out of thin air.
"She has also gotten fairly riled over the past few weeks and has more than once attempted to lure Apollo into a ghoul or demon nest," Death said.
If Jack had still had blood, he had the feeling it would have drained out of his face. War and her horse laughed.
"How is he not in pieces at this point?" War said when she'd gotten enough breath back.
"Hades stopped her. Barely, the last time, and I believe he's regretting it," Death said. "Frankly, I wouldn't mind reaping Apollo. He's gotten increasingly irritating over the past few centuries."
Jack felt a grin creeping across his face. "He's been writing crappy songs and poems again, hasn't he?"
"And singing them at the top of his lungs as he rides across the sky in that damned chariot of his. I swear, he could drive a golden retriever to murder," Death said, his horse tossing his head and snorting in agreement.
Jack laughed while Mei whickered in amusement. "Good thing he's never met Xibalba."
"Unfortunate, in my current opinion," Death said. Jack and War snickered again.
A whistling noise below alerted them to the Wind's arrival second before a massive chilled gust engulfed them. Jack laughed while Mei whickered and pranced, both of them decreasing their aspects enough for their old friend to ruffle hair, mane and clothes. The Wind cooed (it was a mystery to everyone else present exactly how she managed to do so), a bittersweet sort of sound.
The Horsemen decreased their own aspects when Wind lingered. War laughed when several tiny gusts tugged at her hair.
"Heya, honey!" the Red Horseman greeted. "Long time no see!"
Wind whistled exuberantly, moving to whirl around the Pale Horseman and steed. Death tilted his head in acknowledgement, and the Wind whistled again before going back to Jack.
"Wait, what?" Jack said. The Wind circled him again, humming lowly.
"The Guardians are looking for me? Why?" Jack asked, making a face in War's direction.
"Well, you probably freaked the hell out of North, though I'm wondering how he managed to contact the others," War said.
Jack grimaced. Mei whinnied, tossing her head at him.
"I know," Jack said, scratching her neck for a moment. He looked at Death. "Do you have any new assignments for me?"
"Nothing urgent," Death answered.
"Oh, for crying out loud, you're going to talk to them? Why?" War said. Her horse snorted and stomped his agreement.
Jack shrugged. "Couldn't hurt. Besides, they might have seen something."
War snorted. "Yeah. Sure. Kick the kangaroo for me, would you?"
Jack laughed. "Will do."
He found the Guardians in a small park in Buena Vista, Colorado. He guided Mei down into a small grassy field next to a playset, keeping himself invisible as Mei trotted closer to the cluster of spirits.
"What do you mean, changed?" Tooth was saying, sounding rather shrill. "Is he okay?"
"I tell you Tooth, I do not know," North said; he was once again sitting on a bench. "He looked much different; I did not even realize it was him until Pitch said his name."
"And you said he just vanished?" Bunny asked, incredulous.
"Disappeared into thin air," North said, waving a hand for emphasis. "There, wave of black sand, then gone. Poof."
Jack rolled his eyes.
"You sure Pitch didn't get him?" Bunny said.
North shook his head. "Pitch just as surprised as rest."
Oo-kay, Jack did not want them speculating about this much longer.
He reduced his aspect enough to make himself and Mei visible, slowing her to a walk. Mei whinnied, drawing all attention straight to them.
"Frost?" Bunny said, eyes going comically wide.
"Hey, Bunny," Jack replied as he dismounted. "Nice look."
Bunny didn't respond to the jab, which was a little alarming. Jack rested a hand on Mei's neck, trying to ignore the concern in the rabbit's eyes.
"Jack?" Tooth said, brow furrowed slightly as she took a shaky step forward. She managed two more before she tripped. Well, collapsed would be a more accurate descriptor.
Jack quickly stepped forward and caught her, purely on reflex. And the second he touched her, he had to focus very abruptly on not dropping her.
He could feel her, see her in a way he shouldn't be able to sense one of the Moon's spirits. Admittedly what he was reading was far fainter than anything he'd pick up from a dead soul, but…
Oh.
She was fading, and with a start Jack realized North and Bunny were probably in a similar position.
Then the worry he could feel in Tooth claimed his focus and he drew her closer, using his aspect to ease the agitation. He couldn't do it anywhere near as well as Death, but he could tell it worked when Tooth relaxed a bit.
Then she hugged him with what felt like bone-shattering strength and Jack was very glad he didn't need to breathe.
"Jack, I'm so happy to see you! When we found out about Pitch we were so worried, we thought he might have…,"
"Tooth! I kinda like my spine in one piece, thank you very much!" Jack wheezed, squeezing the fairy's shoulders to get her attention.
"Oh! Oh, ha, I'm sorry, I'm just…," Tooth said, stepping back with a sheepish smile, rubbing her arm awkwardly. Jack smiled back and she relaxed. Sort of.
"Frost, what did… I mean, what's happened to you, mate?" Bunny asked, hopping on top of the picnic table North was sitting on to get a better look at Jack.
"Things," Jack said, shrugging again. "Ow!" he yelled, giving Mei an incredulous look when she swatted the back of his head with her tail. She snorted at him, raising her head and giving him a look of her own.
"Jack, please…," North said, leaning forward like he intended to stand.
Jack huffed, raising a hand to stop him. "Yes, things have happened, but I do not want to discuss them with you. And I ask that you respect that," he said, a little bit sharply when he saw Tooth opening her mouth. She closed it, but none of the spirits looked at all happy.
Then Bunny took a miniscule hop forward, standing up on his hind legs.
"Jack," he said, ears drooping. "I… it's… I…"
Jack blinked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry."
Jack felt both eyebrows climbing his forehead. Next to him, Mei stomped and snorted.
"I'm sorry about… about that Easter… about what happened," Bunny said, paws and nose twitching, looking like he couldn't decide whether he wanted to look at Jack or the ground. "I shouldn't have just blamed ya like that. I should've listened to ya."
"We all should have," Tooth interjected. North nodded his assent.
"An' I shouldn't have thrown that punch. Stars, I don' know what I was thinking, I just… I feel like the biggest bloomin' idiot on the planet, and I'm sorry, Jack," Bunny said, managing to finally hold Jack's eyes.
And he was sorry. Jack could feel it, feel his regret; he felt it in all of them.
"We were foolish. Upset and stupid," North said, shaking his head. "Condemned you without even letting you speak. Bezrassudstvo!"
Jack blinked in surprise when the spirit managed to bang his swords against the ground. Then North smiled wanly at him. "We should have trusted in Man in Moon. In you."
Jack's lips thinned, as did his eyes.
"Yeah. If he say's you're Guardian material," Bunny paused, looking Jack up and down. It looked like he was smiling. "Who knows? You might make a bleedin' good one."
Jack laughed. He didn't mean to but… really? And oh, it was not like his old laughs, when he was a spirit, carefree and riding the Wind across the globe, in those moments when nothing mattered but the lightness in his chest and the smiles on people's faces. This was dry, it was bitter and frustrated and oh, so pained.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Jack said with a hard smile. "But it's a bit late for all of that."
The spirits' collective flinch was more gratifying than he'd care to admit.
The Wind whistled through the trees suddenly, swirling around Jack and Mei and nearly knocking Bunny off the table.
'Demons in Sleepy Hollow! Klaus needs help! Hurry!'
Muttering a curse under his breath, Jack leaped into the saddle. Mei was already turning.
"Jack! Wait!" Tooth called.
"Sorry! Work to do! Can't wait! Bye!" Jack yelled, not even looking back as he kicked Mei into a skyward gallop.
Famine and Solriss had reached the Hollow before Jack, who arrived just in time to guide Mei to land right smack on top of the last of the attackers; a Wendigo. There was the ear-shattering sound of breaking bone and the creature screamed. Mei snatched the thing's balding head in her teeth and hauled it up. Jack leaned down and neatly cut through its neck with his scythe. Well, the ones the lesser Reapers carried were really more like giant sickles, but they did the job just fine. Jack had never seen Death's scythe, and he hoped he never saw the occasion the entity deemed it necessary to use the thing.
"Not bad," Klaus said in heavily accented English, nodding approvingly as Jack righted himself. Daredevil snorted in amusement while Jack smiled wryly.
"You would know, I guess," Jack said. The ghost smirked.
"Aw, did we miss everything?" War asked (whined, but Jack would never say that to her face), she and her horse appearing apparently out of nowhere with a human-looking Death and his steed right beside them. The Red Horseman surveyed the bloody mess that was their surroundings, looking quite disappointed. The Red horse, meanwhile, lowered his head to investigate a severed arm. And promptly stomped on it, snorting happily.
Death and his horse shared a look and subsequently rolled their eyes. Jack, Solriss and Famine grinned at each other while Klaus gently steadied Daredevil, who was giving the Red steed an uneasy eye.
"Hey, Jack, how'd your talk with the Guardians go?" War asked suddenly, turning her attention to the former frost sprite.
Jack gave a smile that was really more of a grimace. "About as well as you'd expect, I suppose."
"Did you kick the kangaroo?" War asked.
"I… what? No!"
"Why not? He's basically the size of a soccer ball! It's perfect!" War said incredulously. Her horse bobbed his head, baring his dagger-like teeth as he did.
"He apologized. For… you know, that Easter, anyway. I would've felt bad," Jack said, absently patting Mei's neck. "I mean, I did kind of want to smack the lot of them for being so stupid, but…," Jack paused.
After several seconds of silence, he said, "they're fading."
Everyone present exchanged looks. No one seemed too surprised.
Jack looked to Death. "How long do they have?" he asked.
"As things are going now, not long at all," Death answered. "They won't see the turn of the season, if nothing changes."
Silence reigned again for several minutes, the only sounds the occasional stomp, snort or switching of tails.
"What if we did change that?" Jack said suddenly.
This was met with incredulous looks from everyone. Except Death; Jack looked at him curiously. Death smiled back, miniscule though it was. Jack grinned at him.
"You already know where I'm going with this, don't you?" he said.
Death's smile widened. Looking between them, War suddenly groaned and slumped over her horse's neck.
"You want to help the bastards, don't you?" she muttered into her horse's mane.
"It makes sense, strategically if nothing else," Death said, raising an eyebrow at War's groan. "With fear and mistrust so prevalent, most demon species have significant advantage in a fight."
"I know, but they suck," War complained, her horse whickering agreement.
"Yes, well, any port in a storm," Famine said while Solriss and Klaus exchanged a sour look.
Then Solriss sighed. "I'll see if I can find Morrigan and Hela, see if they would be willing to round up some ghosts."
"I'll see what I can do," Klaus said, thickened accent hinting at his displeasure. Jack grinned at Daredevil's pouting stomp.
"Fine," War said with an eye-roll. "If we got everyone going on Halloween, we can do it again."
"Aww, War!" Jack said, placing a hand over his heart in an exaggerated gesture of surprise. "You do care!"
Less than a second later he and Mei were galloping away, whinnying and laughing as the Red Horseman and her steed charged after them with an indignant yell.
School sucks. Writer's block sucks. Methinks you get the gist. Love y'all! I'll update this ASAP!