I am so, so sorry that I haven't updated in forever. If I'm being honest, I started another fanfic and kinda forgot all about this one, but I'm back now, and with a new chapter! So once again, sorry to keep you guys waiting, but here's chapter 7
Pain. That was his world now. How long had it been? A day? A week? Longer? There was no way to tell, everything was plunged into eternal darkness. Darkness and pain.
Jamie stumbled through the passage ways that he knew so well, the sound of Jack's screams following him through the hall. Even though he wanted more than anything to go back and help him, he wasn't an idiot. Jamie was weak, injured and malnourished, there was no way he could take on Pitch alone. Clutching Jack's staff and tears making his vision fuzzy, he kept going, trying to block out the sound of screaming.
Jamie could hear the sound of fighting up ahead, and he knew that the Guardians would be there. They'll help me get Jack free, they'll come up with a plan. This thought was the only thing keeping Jamie from laying down and giving up. He couldn't give up now, not when Jack needed him most.
Jamie came to a halt as he came out of the hall. All around him nightmares were being smashed into piles of black sand. He stood there, hesitant to go forward. Bunny was the first to notice him. He rushed over, bashing nightmares left and right, and yelled for North to cover him. North looked over, saw Jamie, broke into a grin and nodded. "Will do! Tooth, Sandy, get over here and help!"
The other two Guardians came over and helped North take care of the nightmares as Bunny looked Jamie over.
"What the bloody hell happened? And where's Jack?" Jamie couldn't stop the tears from flowing, even though he tried. Bunny was looking more and more worried by the second. He thumped the floor with his foot and a barrier or thorns erupted from the floor, encircling the Guardians.
"This should hold them, at least for a few minutes," Bunny said. Then he turned to Jamie. "You wanna tell us what happened?"
Jamie swallow and nodded, trying to control his breathing. He took a deep breath, and then everything came out in a rush. "When Jack came to find me Pitch had me chained to the table, but Jack got me out and we were trapped because of the chains and then he sacrificed himself to get me out and stepped into the chains reach and they strapped him to the table and he gave me his staff and told me to go, and I just left him there! And Pitch came back and Jack is helpless and chained to a damn table and there was nothing I could do to help him!" The last part came out in a sob and Jamie fell to the floor, clutching the staff like it was his life line. When he looked up the Guardians looked like they were in shock, then they all started talking at once.
"We have to go back for him!" North shouted. "Calm down!" Bunny said. He gestured to Jamie. "He's the only one that knows where Jack even is and he is in no condition to even stand, let alone go on a rescue mission! And we need to go back, we're all in rough shape."
Jamie took a closer look at them and saw that the nightmares put up one heck of a fight. North was limping and he had blood running down the side of his face, Tooth had scratches and cuts all over her and her hair looked like it had been through a tornado, and Sandy was currently trying and failing to manipulate dream sand. Hopefully he was just tired and nothing serious was wrong. Bunny looked okay, but he had clumps of fur missing and one of his boomerangs was broken.
Tooth paused fussing over her fairies to agree with North. "We can't just leave Jack all alone! We have to go back for him! We aren't that badly hurt, we can take on Pitch!" Sandy shook his head, and he must have just been tired, because he was having no problems telling off Tooth and North. Jamie had no idea what he was saying, but from the outraged looks on North and Tooth's faces, he guessed that Sandy was agreeing with Bunny. "We have to retreat! We all need to be patched up and Jamie here looks about as thin as a stick. He needs proper care, and once he gets it and doesn't look like he could be blown away by a slight breeze, then we can form a plan to get Jack out! And I know," Bunny said, seeing the murderous looks that North and Tooth gave him. "I want to go back for Jack as much as you do, but we can't! We're all tired and beat up, and I can't hold the barrier for much longer. We need to go back to the Warren." As Tooth and North muttered their agreements, and not looking happy about it if I might add, Jamie looked around, and for the first time he noticed that the thorn barrier was slowly falling apart. Nightmare sand was starting to come in through the cracks, and the nightmares themselves were pounding on the wall, determined to get in and rip them all to shreds.
Jamie shook his head and stood up, surprising everyone into silence. "We can't just leave Jack! He wouldn't leave any of us, and right now he needs us more than ever!" Jamie's voice cracked as he added the last part. "He needs me more than ever." Bunny looked torn, between retreating and getting patched up, and going after Jack. "Look, kid, I know how you feel but-" Jamie cut him off. "No! You don't know how I feel! You weren't there for the last two years, and you weren't there in the torture chamber! You don't know what Pitch does to people in there, how he breaks them. We cannot leave Jack in there!" As Jamie said the last part he slammed the staff on the ground. The sound echoed and even the nightmares seemed to fall silent. The Guardians were staring at him in shock, and Jamie was about to demand they say something, but then he realized that they weren't staring at him. He looked up and saw that the staff was glowing. Jamie stared at it, slack-jawed, and that was the distraction that Bunny needed. Just as the barrier split and nightmares began pouring in, he opened a tunnel and everyone fell through, leaving a single white flower in the place of the four Guardians and Jamie. And no matter how many times the nightmares tried to stomp it out, to kill it, the flower wouldn't die.
Back at the Warren Jamie was confused for all of two seconds before dizziness took over and he stumbled, then fell onto the ground. "Jamie!" Bunny rushed towards him and took his pulse, then cursed. He shouted orders at everyone else, but to Jamie it sounded like he was shouting gibberish. He could make out "His pulse is weak," and "He's been running on pure adrenaline and a prayer until now."
Jamie could feel himself being lifted up and being carried somewhere, but he was so tired. He tried to break free of whoever was carrying him, but he could barely lift his head. His last thought before he lost consciousness was how much he resented the Guardians for not going back for Jack.
"Jack?" Jamie was standing outside of his house, wearing pajamas and barefoot in half a foot of snow. But strangely, he didn't feel any cold. "Jack?" He called out again. Jack had said that he would meet him here. This would be the first time Jamie would get to see him since they defeated Pitch together, and Jamie couldn't wait to meet up with his friend again. He waited for another few minutes, but when Jack didn't show Jamie started to get worried. "What if Pitch came back and got him?" Jamie muttered. "But that's impossible. We took Pitch down and Jack is way more stronger than him anyway!" Jamie went on his tip toes, peering down the street as if he expected Jack to come flying down the street at any moment. Instead, a voice echoed out in the silent night. And until that moment Jamie hadn't noticed how quiet it had been. But the sudden sound made him jump.
"Don't be so sure Jamie." Pitch Black materialized out of the shadows in front of Jamie.
"You." Jamie spat out, glaring at Pitch with intense fury. "Yes, me!" Pitch said with a flourish. "Now, down to business. Don't you want to know why Jack is late?" Unable to stop himself Jamie nodded, and Pitch smiled. "Of course you do. Well the reason is simple. And it's all your fault." Jamie wrinkled his nose. "My fault? I haven't even seen him since we took you down!" Pitch looked at him with mock sympathy. "Oh you poor child," PItch crooned. "You've done more than seen him." Pitch blew a fist full of sand into the air and it swirled around, and in the middle a picture formed. The image was choppy, like the service was bad, but Jamie watched as if entranced. The first picture was was him, but he was wearing an ugly black robe thing with silver swirls, and when the other Jamie turned around, he had a cruel light in his eyes. Then the picture changed and Jamie saw himself again, but the other Jamie looked normal, but he was in a cell and he had a black eye. The pictures kept changing, Him chained to a stone table, him and Pitch laughing like old friends, him commanding an army of nightmares, and him fighting Jack. Then the image froze on Jack chained to the same table that Jamie had been chained to a few pictures before, and then Pitch swept into the room. The picture zoomed in on Jack's face and even though there was no sound, Jamie could hear phantom screams. Jack looked like he was in so much pain that Jamie couldn't stand to look anymore. He looked down at his feet as the images registered.
Pitch came over and put a cold hand on his shoulder. "You did that to Jack. When you were my dark prince, and you loved it! You relished in his every scream, and you broke Jack Frost's spirit. You could be my dark prince again Jamie."
Jamie stumbled back, nearly tripping over a rose bush. Had that been there a minute ago? "Your lying! I was never you dark prince, and even if I was, I didn't like it!" But even as Jamie said it, he knew in his core it wasn't true.
"Oh, but you were, and you did."
Everything came rushing back at once, the two years he had spent a prisoner, his time as the dark prince, and Jack rescuing him, but sacrificing himself. The force of it all almost made Jamie fall to his knees. "I could take all of this pain away you know. If you became my dark prince again you could relish in the pain, own the pain, and use the pain. Use it and make it your own." Pitch reached out to touch Jamie's shoulder again but Jamie shrugged him off. "No! Whatever you say I will never ever go back to your side!" Pitch had a murderous gleam in his eyes as he growled "Oh I don't need you anymore. It would have been fun if you came back, the perfect bit of irony if you will, but I only needed you for bait to lure in Frost here." He gestured to the picture, which still showed Jack being tortured. "And now that I have him, I have no need for you. Pity you didn't take the offer though, we could have taken turns playing with Jack." Jamie put his hands over his ears to try and block Pitch out. "No no no NO!"
Jamie bolted straight up, gasping and looking around wildly. For a moment everything was dark and he was back in that dank cell. Jamie flailed around, trying to get out, to find light, something to get out of this never ending dark, when a light flickered on and hands grabbed him.
"Calm down mate, it's fine. You're out."
Jamie looked up at who grabbed him and saw it was Bunny, wearing a very old fashioned and ugly night cap. He noticed Jamie staring at it and snatched it off his head, throwing it into the dark.
Jamie took a deep breath, reminding himself that he got out and took a look at his surroundings. He was in the Warren, that was for sure, and it must have been night because the only source of light was coming from a few lanterns and glowing flowers. Once Jamie calmed down enough and trusted himself enough to speak, he took a breath and looked at Bunny, who had sat down beside him.
"How long was I out?"
Bunny rubbed the back of his neck. "About three days, give or take."
For a moment Jamie was stunned. Then he was mad. "WHAT!?" The sound echoed through the Warren, and within minutes all of the Guardians were crowded around Jamie's bed, everyone in nightwear that belongs in a museum.
"What is it? What is wrong?" North asked. He was wearing some sort of nightgown and one of those old fashioned dangely hats with a bell on the tip. "Nothing, nothing is wrong." Bunny said, trying to calm everyone down.
"What do you mean nothing is wrong?!" Jamie shouted, sitting up and wincing. "I was out for three whole days and not only did you guys not find someway to wake me up sooner, you still haven't gone back for Jack!"
Everyone looked at least slightly guilty, but Bunny glared at them. "You guys know why we couldn't go back for him! I was nearly run into the ground rushing around trying to keep everyone from not dying! No one, not even me, was or are in any condition to go anywhere near Pitch." He collapsed in a chair in the corner and sighed in exasperation. Jamie got his eyes to focus on Bunny and he instantly felt guilty. Bunny did look worn out, you could see the dark circles under his eyes, and he looked like he was so busy healing everyone else he didn't have much time for himself. He was still missing fur in some places and one of his ears was drooping, something Jamie hadn't noticed before now.
Jamie looked down. "Okay, I get why you guys couldn't go for Jack before now, and you are... right." At those words everyone looked up at him in surprise. "If any of us were to go and face Pitch, even all of us all together, we'd fail, and he would probably take the opportunity to capture more of us. So, we need a... a plan." Everyone looked at him dumbfounded for a second before Bunny burst out "That's what I've been saying!" Then he started muttering about how no one listens to him, and other things that Jamie couldn't quite make out.
"Okay, plan. We need a plan. Any ideas?" Tooth asked. Everyone hesitated, and the room seemed to deflate. Jamie lay back down, not sure what to feel. He quickly sat back up when North began to talk.
"Well, first thing is first. We need to figure out what Jamie did when he hit Jack's stick on ground." North turned to him, the question evident in his eyes. Jamie thought back to when they were back in Pitch's fortress and he remembered that he had brought the stick down on the ground in frustration. Then it started glowing, which was not normal. Before Jamie could figure out what was going on Bunny brought them back to the Warren and Jamie had passed out for the next 3 days.
Jamie shrugged. "I have no idea what happened. I hit the stick on the ground and it lit up like a Christmas tree." Norths eyes lit up when Jamie made the comparison. "On an unrelated note, does anyone have any water?"
Bunny jumped up, cursing, and brought him a glass. "Sorry I didn't give you some when you first got up mate, my heads not on right these days."
Jamie took a small sip and savoured the cool water as it trickled down his throat. Then he chugged the rest and decided that no water had ever tasted better. When he was done he gave the glass back to Bunny. "It's fine, you've probably been really busy, trying to make sure nobody, y'know, died or anything." Bunny nodded and set the glass up.
Jamie saw Jacks staff in the corner and the sight of it made his chest hurt, all the memories of his friend coming rushing back. He pushed them aside and and sat up straighter, although the effort almost made him black out. "Can someone hand me J- I mean the staff?" He almost said Jacks staff, but saying his friends name only made the lack of his presence more evident.
A few of Tooth's fairies zipped over and brought it to him. Jamie grabbed it, and with the help of North, he managed to stand up. Jamie raised the staff, then brought it down on the grassy floor. Nothing. The staff got passed around, everyone banging it on the ground, trying to make it light up like it did before. It did nothing. The stupid stick didn't do anything. Jamie plopped back down on his bed, feeling empty. Why wouldn't it work? Was it a one time thing? What if it was important? Jamie must have looked either stressed or on the verge of passing back out, maybe both, because Bunny ushered everyone out of the room, saying that Jamie needed to rest, which was bullshit, because Jamie felt fine. Although no sooner did everyone leave, Jamie fell back against his pillow and immediately fell into a dreamless sleep.
When Jamie woke, it was still dark, so it was either the same day, which he doubted because some things had changed a bit since he was last awake, or it was the next day, which was far more likely. Jamie sat up, feeling groggy but 100 times better, and he saw that Jacks staff was leaning against his bed. He grabbed it and stared at it, trying to figure out what had made it glow last time. The thought that he hadn't hit it hard enough briefly came into his mind, but he dismissed it. Bunny and North had smashed it against the ground so hard the thing nearly broke.
Jamie leaned over the side of his bed and hit it against the ground. Nothing. He sighed in frustration, wondering what he was expecting. Maybe it was just a one time thing after all. He tried it a few more times, each time nothing happened, and each time Jamie got more desperate and more angry. Finally he gave up and put the staff back where he found it, but it slipped out of his hands and landed with a dull thud. That just made him madder. A light flickered on and one of Tooth's tooth fairies came into the room holding a very tiny candle. Jamie recognized her as Babytooth, the fairy that helped Jack years prior. He was about to tell her to go away, when another light came on. He assumed it was Bunny, but no one came in. Babytooth looked behind him and her face was bathed in a blue-white light. Jamie whipped his head around, and the staff was glowing. It was actually glowing! Jamie watched, entranced, as the staff shot a beam of light onto the floor, projector style. A figure glitched into being, slowly becoming less and less fuzzy. Soon image was clear and the figure was fully recognizable. Standing right in the middle of the rom was a holographic projection of Jack. The projection turned to Jamie. "Hi."
