Cry Heard Upon the Wind
By: Wilona Riva
Disclaimer: I do not own ROTG.
Author's Note: I have been working on various drafts of this chapter since last July. I am sorry it took so long. No idea when the next chapter will be updated.
Chapter 2: Shadows
He knew they were there, but now was not the time. Not when Jack had so little of it left. He wiped the frozen tears from the boy's pale face. "Don't worry, Jackson, it'll be over soon. Your mother is coming."
After Pitch faded away, and the clouds covered the moon, the Burgess Six were left in the darkness by the lake stunned and confused.
"Uh, anyone have an idea what's going on?" Monty asked worriedly.
"Nothing good," stated Cupcake.
"Well, I'm going to find out. Tomorrow."
"We have school tomorrow," Pippa reminded.
"Okay, after school then," Jamie said, yawning. "I'm going back to bed."
"Best idea you've had all day," the Twins grumbled.
Pitch paused upon entering his lair. "Still here?" he asked, nudging the still form of a blue-haired man in hiking clothes. The hiker began snoring.
Jack stirred softly.
"Hush, Jackson," he whispered softly. "It's alright."
"And no dessert for you," he said to the smallest shadows. "Honestly." Shadows formed around him, carrying him deeper into his lair.
"How is he?" his daughter asked, rising to her feet, the moment he entered the room carrying Jack.
"He should have transitioned weeks ago, but the near disaster with the Guardians..."
"Whose fault was it you had to choose Easter time to continue that same old tiring feud?"
"Emily Jane!"
"Shut up, Father, and give me my son. I'm taking him home."
"And if his precious Guardians come looking for the boy?"
"Be a sweetie, Father, and give them crumpets and tea until I get back." Mother Nature kissed him gently on the cheek.
The Nightmare King's eyes softened. He never could win an argument with his daughter; she was so much like her mother in this way. He sighed. "Yes, dear."
Mother Nature closed her eyes and prayed a brief prayer to Enodia, the goddess of doorways and ghosts. She wasn't normally in the habit of praying to other spirits, but the situation with Jack was-well, a bargain with Death. She looked up at the moon glowing overhead.
"This is still your fault," she told him
The moon's light dimmed.
"No, you are not getting involved. My son, my rules. We agreed on this."
The moon's light dimmed again, then brightened.
"No."
The moon's light dimmed for the third time that evening.
Mother Nature's sanctuary was open to the elements, so even the Man in the Moon's beams could dance amongst the trees. Mother Nature conjured a pile of snow and placed Jack gently on top. Jack made no sound, took no silent breath. To any mortal, he would have appeared as corpse.
You see, a long time ago, there was a battle on the Moon, and Pitch lost. Mother Nature stole the soul of the Moon's guardian, Nightlight who had given that silly storyteller a special kiss, thus rendering him mortal, and found him a home with a childless shepherding couple in the New World. By then, he had lost his memories of the Guardians and of the Golden Age, so she implanted new images of a happy childhood with his 'family'. Jackson Overland, as his new family called him, was a fun-loving prankster who loved winter.
When he died saving his little sister from a watery grave on the eve of his 17th birthday, she was stricken with grief and fury. She travelled far below the surface of the world, arriving in the domain of Death just after the witching hour.
"I want my son," she'd told him.
"He has crossed the Styx, dear lady," the green-eyed demon replied. "I can't give him back even if I wanted."
"I will pay whatever price you demand."
"I will return Jackson Overland to a half-semblance of life, but the Man in the Moon must give him a purpose, or he will become a vengeful spirit. You must perform the ritual twice a year over his body if you do not wish to become his prey."
"I have need of a Spirit of Winter," Mother Nature admitted. "That should pay his debt."
Death nodded in agreement, but stipulated one further condition.
"Should the boy fail to gain a believer by the 2nd week before Eastertide, he must offer up a child's soul in place of his own. "
"And if he does gain a believer?"
"Then we bargain anew for the starchild."
"Agreed."
Mother Nature took an old iron key from the the chain at her waist, and opened up a small satin-lined white box. The snow melted at her command, and she picked up the bleached-bone white skull of her son. " Time to sleep, Jack," she addressed the skull, "but first, you must find the Last Light. Easter has come and gone, but too late have you gained believers. One child's soul is forfeit the mortal plane. You know what you must do." The wind stirred softly.
"Go," she commanded, placing the last bone in the bone box, and locked it with the iron key. "Bring him to me."
The Spirit of Winter bowed to her, and was gone from sight.