Chapter 27:
Burgess. Why the heck was it always Burgess?
But when Jack saw little Jamie (who was not as little as Jack remembered him being, dang kids really did grow up fast), it made sense. Jaimie had been one of the Guardians' strongest believers, and his belief had only been strengthened when he'd seen them that night, collecting teeth. And, as Death said (oftentimes complaining), young souls were… more perceptive than adults at times. After actually seeing the Big Four, Jaimie's belief would be all but impossible to shake.
Which unfortunately made him target number one as far as Pitch was concerned when the Guardians started fighting back again.
And the Guardians, stronger though they'd become, were still in no position to hold the front.
Jack brought Mei to a halt above the alley where Pitch had backed the Guardians and Jaime into a corner. There were plenty of Nightmares about, and Pitch himself of course, but there was no sign of any demon, never mind one as powerful as Agramon.
With a heavy sigh, Jack dropped a trash can lid on Pitch's head.
Mei snorted and whickered when Pitch cursed, head jerking upward and spotting the two of them immediately. "Frost!"
"Oh, sorry, didn't see ya there," Jack, resting his elbow on his knee as he leaned over with a grin. "My bad."
Pitch's eyes narrowed further, either ignoring or not noticing the Wind brushing past him.
"Still standing with the spirits who betrayed you, Jack? What do you feel you owe them, after all this time?" the Bogeyman asked. Jack blinked; was it his imagination, or did Pitch sound… genuinely curious?
"Who said I'm doing this for them?" Jack asked. Mei snorted her agreement with the sentiment. "Frankly, you've been bugging the hell out of a lot of people lately, me included. Nice job, by the way, ticking off the Judge. From what I've heard of the guy, you're lucky he didn't slice you into ribbons."
It was Pitch's turn to blink. "How did you…?"
"Cipitio's still got a spot on the international spirit grapevine, you know," Jack said.
Pitch bared his teeth in an expression Jack could not interpret; it could have been a snarl or an absolutely savage grin. Jack tensed when Pitch turned his Nightmare mount around, its fellows doing the same.
Then the Wind carried Jaimie and the Guardians past them all at speed, shrieking and laughing with glee.
After a moment of utter chaos, the Nightmares took off after the Guardians and Jaimie while Pitch and his mount leaped at Jack and Mei.
Jack immediately turned Mei about and kicked her into a gallop. They led Pitch on what was, for them, a merry chase. They dove down narrow alleys and side streets, wove between chimneys and apartment buildings. Occasionally they would make darting attacks, Jack striking glancing blows with his scythe (which he'd turned into a pole staff). He never did any serious damage; Pitch wasn't his fight, he just needed to distract him long enough for the Guardians to get on with things. And Pitch was an able rider in his own right; he dodged the majority of Jack's attacks, seeming more annoyed than anything. Anything that did strike was little more than a glancing blow.
Suddenly the Bogeyman's eyes went wide for a second, then narrowed into a hard glare.
"You've been distracting me!" he hissed, his mount whinnying angrily.
Jack brought Mei to a halt. She snorted as he shrugged. "Yeah."
With a definite snarl this time, Pitch turned his steed about and kicked it into a gallop; the pair vanished into the shadow of a high-rise tower a second later.
Jack and Mei didn't follow.
Jack felt the hair rise along the back of his neck, shoulders going rigid at the smell that suddenly, subtly, had permeated the air about him; old blood, rotten flesh and burning hair. It wasn't that strong, but it still felt like it had closed his throat up.
Mei turned about without any direction from him, whinnying a challenge, though Jack could feel the horse trembling beneath him.
Behind them, on no surface Jack could discern, stood the Demon of Fear.
There were no eyes or ears Jack could discern. What bits of the demon's flesh were visible were so pale as to be almost white, but… sallow, in their appearance. His mouth seemed to take up about three quarters of his face, sharp teeth bared in a grin. He had two large horns that looked like a cross between a ram's and a bull's, emanating from his head for about three feet on either side before curving slightly back and upward. He wore black armor that had been fashioned to look like lizard's scales, though his hands and feet appeared to be bare. These both appeared more reptilian than anything, massive claws tipping each digit. He also apparently had a tail, long and thin, that curled about his feet.
The demon flicked his tongue, looking to be tasting the air like a snake, before he opened his mouth. Jack noticed then that he did have eyes, albeit small ones. There were no whites, only two pupils that encompassed each eye, such a deep, dark blue they were almost black. Paired with that massive mouth opening, the image was horrifying.
"The former Jack Frost," Agramon said, voice some horrid cross between a whisper and a growl. The demon seemed quite calm, though, which if anything alarmed Jack even more. "Before, Jackson Overland. Now, a little Reaper. Why do you interfere with my puppet, little one?"
It took Jack a moment to unglue his tongue from the top of his mouth. "Because he's annoying."
Agramon laughed; the smell became distinctly stronger for a moment, and Jack shuddered. Mei took a small, small step backward, ears pinned flat against her head.
"Don't patronize me, little Reaper. You think I became what I am by playing the fool?"
Jack's mouth moved almost against his will. "We know what you're doing. You and your boss."
Agramon made a sound that may have been a sigh.
Jack didn't see what happened next. One moment he was sitting astride Mei, facing the demon standing about twenty feet away from them. The next he was being pressed against the wall of a building, the demon's tail wrapped around him, one clawed hand wrapped around his throat, the other cupping the side of his face in a terrifying mimicry of a lover's touch, tilting his face up to meet Agramon's eyes.
The demon leaned closer, breath washing over Jack's face, as the young Reaper's eyes were drawn unwittingly into deep blue pools.
"Why don't you tell me more about that, little Reaper?"
Jack couldn't recall much after that except that he was screaming, and wondering how that was possible when his heart and lungs seemed as though they would burst due to the sheer terror.
Alone.
Cold.
Hurts.
…
No one sees me. Why do they not see me? Hear me touch me feel me what is going on?
…
There are other spirits. They don't like me. Spring, they hurt me. Bunny doesn't like me he's mad says I ruined his Easter it wasn't my fault itwasanaturalstorm why is he yelling…
North thinks it's justmischief that I don't haveareason but can't they see them smile, hear them laughing, feel the things sleeping to grow underneath…
The cold moonlight shines down on a hooded cloak. The face is a skull. It was all a lie?
..
"Hello."
There is someone there. They're smiling. They're lookingat him!
Hands are grabbing his, holding gently as they help him to his feet.
..
He falls asleep against something warm.
..
"Come on, sprite, I know you've got better than this in you! On your feet!" The woman in red gestures sharply for him to rise. "Up! Again!"
..
The blond man grins. "Well done, lad."
..
"When I first found you, you were alone and terrified out of your mind. How would you have reacted if I'd walked up to you looking like this, or told you that I was the Incarnation of Death? And later, what do you think the spring spirits would have done, had they discovered your connection to me? They already hate you for being what you are; I did not wish to give them, or any other spirits, further reason to push you away."
"But couldn't you have at least told me your real name?"
"Technically, I did. Do you know what Ants'nel means?"
..
"You need not go if you do not desire it, Jack. If you choose to, however, I will understand."
..
"I would be honored to have you as one of my Reapers."
Jack brought his scythe up with a primal yell, slashing at Agramon's face and forcing him back. With a furious scream Jack would not have thought a horse capable of, Mei stormed between him and the demon, shaking so hard Jack wondered how she was even standing when he himself fell to his knees the second the support of the demon's tail vanished.
Agramon hissed, genuinely aggravated now, tail lashing about like a sentient whip.
"Yes, I was afraid. I am afraid," Jack said, much more shakily than he would have liked, but, putting his hand on Mei's shoulder, he was able to push himself to his feet. The blade of his scythe snic'd as he twirled it in his hand. "But I can control it."
Agramon… snickered, Jack supposed. "I am primal fear. I am inescapable, little one who was once mortal."
"I'm a servant of Death. We're kinda inevitable ourselves," Jack said, managing a shaky grin. Before Agramon could react, he lunged.
When Agramon tried to use his breath again, Jack kept his focus on the demon's movement.
Always be aware of your opponent as well as yourself, War was fond of saying. Watch them. Learn.
Agramon, it appeared, generally relied on his power and his breath to subdue his prey before they got too close. He only started bringing his arms up in defense when Jack was already well inside his guard. His armor proved ill-equipped to repel a Reaper's scythe, and Jack managed a couple more deep slashes before Agramon realized his fear-power wasn't working.
The demon was still a formidable fighter; his tail was capable of inflicting serious damage and it had a long reach. Jack got two deep slashes across his right cheek, one narrowly missing the eye, before Mei bit it off. The claws were still a problem; they were worse than the hardest, sharpest steel. He was fast, too. Jack was barely holding his own, parrying and dodging like a madman, leaping from rooftop to rooftop in an effort to get some space between himself and his opponent so he could make an attack of his own.
Suddenly Agramon let out a horrible, unearthly shriek, leaping back and clutching at his side. Jack blinked in surprise when he saw a silver arrow sticking out from a damaged portion of the demon's armor.
Looking back, Jack saw Piscia and her dun mount standing on top of the AC unit of a neighboring roof, Piscia already drawing another arrow from a quiver that had been slung across her back. Agramon spun about and hissed threateningly… and got an arrow in the chest for his trouble.
When the demon staggered backward from the force of the blow, Jack leaped onto Mei's back as she sprang forward from where she'd been behind him, ready to run to his aid. As his horse bounded forward, Jack tightened his legs around her and leaned out. His scythe hummed in his hand.
It was… almost anticlimactic, how quick and easy it was. A bit disconcerting when the head nearly bounced off the roof, though.
Klaus would have been proud.
"Thanks," Jack said to Piscia as they trotted side-by-side down the alley. "Where'd you get the bow?"
"I spent some time with the Hunters of Artemis before I asked Death to serve as a Reaper," Piscia answered, tossing her braid over her shoulder as she adjusted the strap of the quiver. "I kept some of the accoutrements."
"Ah," Jack said, feeling a smile tug at his mouth as he slowed Mei down so he could listen to the shouting a few blocks away. "Sounds like they're still at it."
Piscia sighed, tugging at the reins to slow her own horse. "Why do I get the impression you're going to go get involved?"
Jack just grinned at her.
"Jack, be aware that we have only disembodied Agramon; fragments of his power will still be here, and they will be concentrated around Pitch and the Nightmares. It may not be a good idea for you to go up against them. There is a significant risk of after-effects," Piscia said.
"Well, then, consider this a bit of clean-up work, then," Jack answered.
The other Reaper sighed. "Fine. I will… stay nearby, just in case. There are a few lesser demons a few miles away I can deal with."
Mei, apparently at the end of her rope with fear-associated creatures for the night, nearly trampled the Bogeyman without any direction from Jack. He'd jumped off her back, turning his scythe back into a pole staff, intending to assess the situation when Mei, trumpeting furiously, leaped down from the rooftop they'd landed on in a valiant effort to squash Pitch flat.
Pitch (barely) managed to dodge, vanishing into a shadow at the last possible second. Mei, much to her frustration, landed on solid concrete. She whinnied in indignation, snorting and stomping about as she searched for her missing target.
Jack, amused and a little bit concerned (he'd never seen her this upset about… anything, really), leaped down beside her, keeping the staff up in a defensive position as Pitch's laughter echoed about the alley.
"Jack! Are you okay?" Bunny called from the alley's mouth. Jack's head turned to face the Guardians; they all looked okay. A little scuffed up, some bruises here and there, but nothing serious. Bunny was also back to his usual size, Jack was surprised that he was actually pleased to notice that. Seeing the proud spirit that… small had been a little disconcerting, even though there was no love lost between them.
"Jack! Ohmygosh, your face, what happened?!" Tooth shrieked, hands flying up to cover her mouth.
Oh, yeah. He probably should've wiped the blood off.
"I'm fine, someone just got a lucky shot in," Jack said, smiling thinly.
He sensed the shift behind him a second before Mei whinnied her warning. He turned, swinging his staff, and knocked the scythe out of Pitch's hand with zero trouble. Bringing the staff back down, he wedged it between Pitch's ankles so the Bogeyman would trip no matter which way he tried to step. And all Jack would have to do to knock him down was push back a little bit.
"Dude, that is not how you hold a scythe, much less swing it," Jack said, giving Pitch an arched look.
Pitch, for his part, was left gaping in shock. That shock quickly turned to terror when a thread of golden sand wound around his wrists.
Jack laughed at the Bogeyman's horrified yell when he was yanked backward, over the buses in the depot and over the fence.
"Noooo you don't," he said, quickly grabbing Mei's reins as she went to leap after him. The look she gave him could've curdled fresh milk.
"Next time! Next time, I promise!"