The North Pole was a sad sight to see. Where there was normally busy-ness and noise, there was only the sad jingle of elf bells: the yetis blocked off sight to the center of the room in their bulk. In the center was a small shrine built to the fallen guardian, the three remaining standing sadly around it.
One yeti turned to stare out of a window that had a unique tapping coming from its glass panes.
There, crouched on the windowsill, was Jack, looking like the world's saddest stray pidgeon. His blue eyes were wide and sorrowful. The yeti, Phil, had been instructed by North that if the small guardian ever showed up again, he was to be let inside. He mumbled and cracked open the window. Jack scuttled in sideways like a little crab, then sat down on the window bench, waiting to be seen.
Phil gently shouldered his way to the front. He tapped North on the shoulder, pointing with a single word to the boy. "Frost," he softly garbled in his native tongue.
Bunny stiffened up. He understood the basics of the yeti language, and he had felt the cold breeze and heard the tapping; but he didn't turn to confront the younger spirit.
North nodded sadly and turned to look at Jack over the sea of yetis. He was curled up on the bench, pitiful. North gently excused himself. Jack watched as the much larger man walked over. He had prepared what he would say, but he felt the words fly out of his brain like snowflakes in a winter storm.
But North spoke before Jack had a chance to speak. "Are you alright, Jackie?"
Jack blinked in surprise. "Me?" North raised an eyebrow, waiting a response. "Umm, yeah. I'm fine. I just-" Jack gestured in mid-air vaguely as North took a seat beside him on the bench. Abandoning tact, Jack just blurted out, "I didn't want this. I... I want to be neutral, and I am... but... Sandy-"
"We do not blame you or think that this is what you wanted, Jack. We understand that you want to be neutral."
"You... do?" Jack could still clearly remember Bunny exploding in his face when thing had gotten hot and he'd insulted the Moon: honestly, he wasn't sure how he felt about the Moon, but he knew he shouldn't have acted so harshly towards him.
North nodded, sympathetic. "You may not believe me Jack, but I can see who you are inside." One large finger poked Jack in the heart. "Inside, you are good person. You care for kids and others and you hate to see harm fall on them. I believe that is why Manny chose you; but, for better or for worse, you have said no. And that is fine! You are good person and you spread good in your own way: who cares if you count yourself as neutral, or if you are friends with my enemy? I can feel that the good inside will always find a way to shine. I feel it!" He rumbled a laugh and patted his enormous stomach. "In my belly!"
Jack huffed a laugh of his own. He shifted so he was sitting properly on the bench, side-by-side with North. "Thanks old man."
North rumbled again and gave Jack an affectionate little shove. "I do not know who you once were, Jack, but I am glad you are who you are now." He pulled Jack into a one-armed side hug. The boy stiffened.
He'd only ever been properly hugged by Pitch on rare occasions: sure the odd sprite or naiad or some other eternal spirit would hug him in thanks for being saved, but those were fueled by hormones and the like. Jack being genuinely hugged out of affection was done only by Pitch, and extremely rare.
But North was warm and comfortable, and Jack found himself hugging back fiercely to lean into that warmth. Jack wasn't sure how long he and North just sat there. It was as if one minute they were on the bench and the next he and the three remaining Guardians were observing the globe of believers. The lights were dying fast: Pitch's last attack had tipped the balance, allowing fear to spread like wildfire; and fear extinguished childish belief and hope.
Bunny jumped up onto the counter, grinning for ear to ear, though the expression looked a little strained. "Aww come on you sad sacks. We can still turn this thing around! Easter is tommorow, and I say we pull out all the stops and get those little lights flickering again!" He paused to look Jack dead in the eye. "And Frost." The boy gulped. "I may not like you, and I may not approve of much about you, but if you help with Easter, I'll accept you as a neutral party. Sure you may never be a Guardian, and that's alright with me, but at least we can properly wipe the slate clean, eh?"
Jack felt a little spark of hope ignite in his chest. Perhaps they could work this out after all.
Within minutes they were rushing back down to the sleigh, North loudly admitting that for once Easter was more important than Christmas. That sent Bunny whirling on smug pride. Throwing "Buckle up" back in North's face was a bit overkill in Jack's opinion, though admittedly very funny.
Jack was sliding down the twisting tunnels with glee, whooping louder than the others. He was remaining on his feet and was glad that he was tougher than a mortal or else his feet would be covered in severe friction burns and cuts.
They all were spat out into a wide, green, flower and moss covered glade. Large stone egg things stomped on over to stand behind Bunny as he spread his arms to proudly introduce the Warren.
Immediately however, he stiffened once more. He turned around, sniffing the air and flicking his ears. "Somethin's not roight."
A distant high pitch squeal reached their ears, growing louder and louder every second. Jack hopped up into the air, watching as the Guardians all drew weapons and rushed to the entrance on a tunnel system. He then laughed out loud as little tiny Sophie Bennett came stumbling out of the tunnel, her squeal of childish joy dying as she came face to face with three fully armed Guardians, two yetis, two stone eggs, and an elf. The Guardians all chuckled awkwardly until she scurried away to pick on the elf.
"Wot is SHE doin 'ERE?!" His voice actually cracked, making Jack laugh as he floated back down to Earth.
North patted himself down. "Snowglobe," he muttered guiltily.
"CRIKEY SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!"
They all snapped their attention to Jack. "Hey don't look at me. I'm invisible, remember?" He crouched down, looking longingly at little Soph.
Tooth was the first to try dealing with the little girl. She was right that Sophie was a fan of all things pretty, especially faires, but she didn't count on the child not having her obsessive love for teeth.
Jack laughed more. "Blood and gums, Tooth?" He jumped into the air to hang over little Sophie. "When was the last time you guys actually hung out with kids?"
"We are very busy bringing joy to children," North explained. "We don't have time-" Sophie ran by, "- for children!"
The three paused. It seemed they noticed the problem.
"If one little kid can ruin Easter, then you all are in worse shape than we thought." Jack casually sent one of his trademark magical snowflakes tumbling through the air, watching as Sophie chased after it. It broke on Bunny's nose: a twitching smile began to form on the rabbit.
And thus began what Jack knew would become the best day of his life so far. He watched Bunny scoop up little Soph and carry her off to paint eggs. Hundreds upon thousands of eggs came trotting down the hills in rivers, their little legs resounding in a near deafening chorus of taps.
"Uhm, how much time do we have?" Surely they couldn't paint all of these in one day.
But they didn't need to! Magical plants spray painted the little things all sorts of pastel colors. Bunny's voice was echoing all throught the Warren. "Alright troops! It's time to push back. That means eggs EVERYWHERE! Heaps of you in every highrise, farm house, and trailer park; in tennis shoes and cereal bowls! Oh there'll be bathtubs filled with my beautiful googies!"
The spray painted eggs trotted their unworried way over to a river of sparkling ink. The elf pushed one into the river, mocking it until it was also pushed into the river by the horde of walking eggs. North picked up an egg upside down. "Ok. That's a little strange," he muttered, watching its tiny legs kick.
"Naw mate, that's adorable." Bunny was hunkered down over the eggs, nuzzling them and looking down right adorable himself. He soon moved again however, letting his voice boom out once again. "There will be springtime on every continent; and I'm bringing hope with me!"
The eggs then fell into little curled plants. Gold, silver, and pink swirls were marked on each one with incredible precision.
Jack was soaring above it all, taking in the amazing sight. He couldn't help getting his hands into the works, and if a couple of eggs had snowflake patterns or if some sparkly graffiti had been added to the stones... well, there was nothing Bunny could prove or accuse: after all, Jack was helping.
But all too soon, the fun was over: the eggs were sent off: the little sleeping Sophie needed to get home. Jack offered to take her.
"Jack, we need you here. It's guaranteed that Pitch will attack again."
He shrugged off Tooth's objection. "I can't fight Pitch, you guys know that. Listen, I'll just fly her home, then come back to help hide the eggs, just like I promised! Besides, if Pitch or his nightmares find any of you taking Soph home, he'll attack, and she might get hurt in the process; if he sees me, the worst that could happen is we have a chat."
Bunny nodded, for once agreeing with Jack. "A'roight. Just make sure you DO come back Frosty."
Jack scoffed. "Please. I'll be quick as a bunny!"
In moments he was dashing across the world with a miraculously sleeping Sophie tucked into his chest: aside from Soph, he was alone, having turned down Babytooth following him. He was surprised the rushing cold wind or the continual drops and rolls didn't wake Sophie: she slept through it all until he was clambering into her bedroom. The simple task of removing the child from around his neck proved difficult for Jack, her hands tightly locked together; and when he finally did detach her, she rolled off the bed and tumbled to the floor. Jack tossed a blanket over her and a doll beside her. Then he dashed through and closed the window before her mother entered.
Jack stayed crouched on the windowsill a moment longer than was needed, just looking on as Mrs. Bennett expertly tucked her daughter back into bed. Grinning from ear-to-ear, he turned to fly off and hold up his end of the promise.
He froze. There was a voice, calling to him. It was young and feminine and-
"I know that voice."
The voice called again and Jack leapt off after it, forgetting the Guardians and his promise. He followed madly. Every call of his name prompted another reckless leap to where it came from.
Finally, he stumbled upon a hole in the ground underneath a broken and dilapidated bed frame. Jack instantly recognized it as one of Pitch's entrances to his lair. He paused for one second.
Maybe he shouldn't enter: he had promised that he would be back as soon as possible, and it'd be a bit awkward to explain to Pitch that he was helping the man's greatest enemies in return for accepted neutrality. But, what if that voice was a child in danger? North had been right when he had said that Jack never wanted a single child to come to harm; and North himself would have never hesitated to leap down into a hole in the name of a child. So why not? Unless it was a trap, and Pitch thought he was luring another Guardian down to a lonely demise. But none of the Guardians were named Jack.
The voice called again, and Jack found himself falling down the hole.
It was Pitch's lair alright. The tunnel Jack had entered was long and twisted: this came as no surprise to Jack: he had been here many times before and knew that the architecture here liked to defy reality by being twisted, off level, sideways, and even upside down in some places. Jack was also pretty sure that the layout of the place changed everytime he visited: it didn't help that the shadows would grab you and teleport you somewhere else randomly. You could think you're walking casually down to the "living room" and find yourself on the other side of the underground palace, lost in the sea of bookshelves that was Pitch's massive library.
Jack crept forward, now uncertain. He almost wished he had taken Tooth's offer that Babytooth accompany him; but the little thing would probably get lost if she wasn't chirruping in his ear the whole time. Plus this way she could help hide eggs in his place.
He came out into a vast room: it was the largest room that Jack knew existed in the underground palace, and it held Pitch's own globe of believers (of the Guardians' believers, not his own yet.) But instead of empty space, it was filled with mountains of teeth canisters. Up above Jack saw only darkness, shadows obscuring his vision (hiding the faires, though Jack didn't know that.) He walked up to the edge of the platform he was on to look down on the sea of glistening gold tubes that covered every inch of the floor with some that rose up above the height of where he stood. It was a magnificent sight to be sure.
Jack was silent. He didn't know what to do or what to think.
"Looking for something?"
Jack shrieked, nearly tumbling off the edge of the platform. He leapt back to avoid this and crashed into who had spoken, who was now laughing in spite of himself. Jack looked up and behind himself and, "Pitch! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"I know," the gray man chuckled, still thoroughly amused by his prank. He gave Jack a rare genuine smile, a little spark in his gold eyes. "But to other matters, to what do I owe this visit?" Jack stuttered for a response. Pitch watched, smiling slowly while one lack-of-an-eyebrow equally slowly inched upwards. When he felt that the boy had stuttered enough, he held up a hand to silence him. "Relax, I know why."
"... you do?" Jack was surprised by this to say the least.
Pitch nodded. He lifted up one of the golden tooth canisters, presenting its front to Jack. "Of course. You were hearing your memories calling."
Jack stared wide-eyed at the little tube being proffered to him. With a shaking hand, he took the thing. He looked it up and down, staring at the face engraved on the front that was so clearly his own, despite the brown hair and eyes: it had his mischief and smile. "H-how'd you know?" He had never spoken of his memories to Pitch, nor had he found the lair yesterday to speak of them.
Pitch straightened his posture, wrapped an arm around Jack's shoulders, and led the boy off on a long walk. "I have ears in the shadows, you know. I can hear every whisper spoken in or near one: it is similar to tuning a radio: you have to chose which station to listen to. I heard you and Tooth discussing the memories; heard you say you never had a past before being Jack Frost; and of course knew it was you who was searching so frantically across Venice for an entrance to my little home. It was simple logic from there really."
Jack kept staring at the canister, not fully registering that he was being led into the depths of the underground palace. "And, you're just going to give them to me?"
"Of course!" Pitch ruffled Jack's hair affectionately. "They're yours, and unlike Tooth, I have no want to keep them for myself. Honestly, once this whole mess is over with, I don't know what I'll do with the infernal things. I only needed to take them to help win the war." Jack sent a look behind to catch one last glimpse of the gold mountains as they turned a corner. Pitch picked up on his unease. "That reminds me, what is the real reason you've been hanging around them so much?" Once again Jack stiffened and fumbled for an answer, but Pitch kept talking. "I mean, I've guessed that they offered you the title of Guardian, but I figured you would have denied them outright."
Jack swallowed. "I did. But they didn't really listen to me until Sandy. . . . Well, I wasn't lying when I said I was at Tooth Palace due to a misunderstanding. They know where I stand between you and them now, and Bunny offered that if I help prep and hide his eggs, then I would be accepted as a neutral party: properly wipe clean the slate kinda thing."
The two had stopped. Pitch looked solemn and Jack kept fiddling with his staff and the canister of his teeth. He laid a hand on the winter spirit's shoulder. "Do you really believe that?"
Jack startled. "What do you mean?"
"Jack, do you really believe that they'll hold good on that? You say they understand that you're neutral, yet they force you to help them to 'officalize' the fact." Pitch was leaning down to eye-level with Jack, and the boy saw real concern in the man's eyes. "They know that you are my friend, and they and I are bitter enemies."
"But I'm becoming sortve friends with them too," Jack shuffled and murmured, now unsure. Why WERE they making him help the for the sake of "neutrality"? Shouldn't they have just let him off the hook and let it become official that way? "Besides," he continued, ignoring the doubts in his head, "I've already come this far in the deal (no matter how unfair it may or may not be.) It seems only right that, even if they won't play right, I'll at least keep up my own good name and pull through."
"You're going back to finish the deal?" Pitch got a cold feeling in his stomach. As they spoke, the nightmares were finishing their job of trashing the egg hunts and the Guardians were on every level of fear, anger, and paranoia.
Jack shrugged. "I mean... yeah? I'm sure time has been acting up like it always does in this place, and I've probably spent the entire evening speaking with you and thereby missed most of my half of the deal, but I'm sure I can get North at least to listen; and then this whole ordeal can be wrapped up and I can go back to my normal life."
Pitch couldn't help melting a little bit at the boy's childlike enthusiasm for the future, but still... "I would seriously not recommend returning to them. Remember, I am at war with them, and unlike them, I have no need to be in-person for every fight."
Jack frowned, then realization struck. "I just missed an entire fight, didn't I? I mean, not that I would have been fighting anyway."
"I called you over here for that very reason, Jack; to take you out of this fight: it isn't yours to fight in any way." He had Jack by both shoulders now, looking intently at the boy. "Jack, I'm trying to convince you not as their enemy, but as your friend: do what you do best and fly away: search for your fun elsewhere until this sordid mess is over with: stay here even, if you like. Just leave and wait to see which side emerges victorious. If I win, I'll come for you personally, to make sure you are safe and so you know that if you remain strictly neutral or take your place in my reign that I will see and treat you just the same as always. If they (somehow) win... well I'm sure they won't come for you, knowing them, but when you do inevitably meet again and the tempers have cooled, then you can explain all that has happened. But please, for your own safety, don't go back now."
The boy blinked rapidly. What did Pitch mean by "his place" in Pitch's kingdom? Wouldn't he just be another subject under the man's rule?
Jack frowned and looked down at the floor. He felt like he was making progress in befriending the Guardians: sure he and Bunny were still rough, but Tooth was sweet and North was kind and gentle. Would they really toss him under the bus so quickly? Jack shrugged kinda helplessly. "I... I just feel I have to try. It's the same result in the end, right? Neutrality? Besides. I can fend for myself! Remember all those training nights? If worse comes to worse, I can just fly away."
Pitch sighed. "Well, if I can't convince you other wise, just promise me you'll be careful boy." Jack nodded in a silent promise and Pitch opened his arms for a hug. Unlike as he had done with North, Jack immediately rushed into the embrace: the hug was nothing like with North, all bony with a slightly cold and gritty feel, but Jack was familiar with these kind of hugs, and felt his fears melting away, as if Pitch was absorbing them. Pitch broke the intimate contact and waved to a wall they had arrived at. "These shadows will take you to where the Guardians are currently."
Jack thanked Pitch and hopped over to the shadows. He stopped right before he entered. Turning back to a watching Pitch, he asked, "if you do win, what is your plan exactly? You said it wasn't going to be like the Dark Ages again, so what will it be like? What is 'my place'?"
Pitch smirked. He pointed at Jack in a way that made the boy feel that Pitch would have booped him on the nose if he was still in reach. "You'll just have to wait and find out."
Jack rolled his eyes and stepped through the shadow portal. He had an apology to give and a deal to finally finish.
A/N
Awwwwwww, cute Pitch and Jack. The close father/son dynamic gets better, trust me. Alsooooo, Jack is kinda touch starved: that's why he hugged North so tightly and never even once questioned or resisted Pitch half-holding or touching him.
He lonely.
Anywho, hope yall like this chapter. Dropping some more hints and progressing some character dynamics is always fun. Things gon start heating up here (pun) and there's really only a few more chapters of part one, which covers the movie itself. Part two will probably be the longest part, and three will be short like one. Part two is where the fun begins, so be ready for that!
So long Lovies!