Jack walked down the road, sort of following behind Jynx. At first, he was shocked to find that he was wearing a dark blue hoodie and a pair of black pants, all a bit oversized. He appeared strange looking, due to the large clothing, and somewhere deep within his mind, he thought that he just escaped from a mental hospital. Jack's shock quickly faded and the Frost Spirit accepted his new look, with a shrug.
The village, he noticed, seemed less cheery then back at his own world. It seemed like it was trying to stay cheerful, but the eyes of the children told Jack all that he needed. Santoff Claussen was the only place in the world, where the Guardians were hiding out.
Jack started to feel a craving to visit the Pixie King's home. He tried to ignore it, but it very quickly grew too strong and he started to feel nervous. It was like a crazed need, and the Frost Spirit realized that it was starting to effect him more than mentally, after he went to move some stray hairs from out of his face. He had noticed that his hands seemed to be shaking slightly and it partially alarmed him.
"We need to find Story's house first," Jack announced. He saw the werecat look back at him, with excitement on his face. "I think that I have to."
"Then to the Pixie's home," Jynx said smoothly, as he started to purr. "Y' did often. Still don't know why."
"It's a overpowering compulsion," Jack told him, grinning.
"You have alot of those," The Cheshire Cat said teasingly.
"I know," Jack poked back, laughing slightly. He 'remembered' that after he accepted Pitch's offer, and the Nightmare King had started trying to corrupt him, Story had installed a failsafe in all of his pixies to allow for them to continue to live on without the Pixie King. Jack remembered, having to go to Story's house and in the last visit, Story 'killing' him.
The Cheshire Cat dodged a group of children playing a ball game, leaping out of the way and narrowly missed being hit by the ball. It brought the Frost Spirit out of his memories
"Sorry about that," They heard a boy said.
"Jus' tell us where the house of Artemus is," Jynx replied grinning wickedly.
"Artemus?"
"Story," Jack answered nonchalantly. It mildly surprised him, of how he suddenly knew that. But he wrote it off. This world was already strange to him, so he decided to just play along. Yet somewhere deep within his mind, he was starting to question if he was actually playing along or if the remnants of his self from this world that were effecting him.
Jack saw the boy's eyes widen in a tiny fraction of fear and watched as the boy quickly pointed towards a street, before turning and running away.
"Well that's rude," The Frost Spirit heard the Werecat mutter. He saw Jynx look up at him and the smile shifted towards a friendly one. "Which way Jackie?"
"That way," Jack answered, as he noticed that a line seemed to form. It lead down the road and around a corner.
The Cheshire Prince grinned as Jack took off down the path, running as if something were after him. Jynx snickered and quickly followed the Frost Spirit, running on all fours, until he abruptly slammed into the back of the boy's legs.
"Whoa!" Jack exclaimed as he felt the creature run into him, and knocking his feet from under him. Both partners looked at each other, as Jynx was sort of tangled up between Jack's legs. And then suddenly both started laughing.
After a minute, they untangled from each other and stood up, to realize that they were infront of a strange house.
It seemed like a tree had grown up around the bottom of the house, and the rest of the house had been built later, winding its way up the trunk of the tree. It had extensions on the strongest branches and a balcony at the top. But what Jack noticed above all, was that there were no doors.
The Frost Spirit blinked as he acted on the thought that he could just walk up to the house. And he did, walking up the few steps to where the entrance would be and politely knocked on the wall.
"Let me in Story," Jack called out. "It's Jack."
Suddenly a keyhole emerged from the wall and Jynx blinked, "Tha's all?"
Jack smirked as he looked down at his friend and shrugged.
"I don't have my staff," The Frost Spirit told him.
"Let's see what I can do," Jynx said grinning again. He pulled out a key and attempted to put it into the lock. They heard what sounded like a grinding noise and then heard a snap. Jack saw the part of key that the werecat had jerk and the creature pulled it out.
Both partners blinked in amazement, as they realized that the key that had been stuck into the lock was missing.
"Hey!" Jynx shouted as he attacked the keyhole, trying to get a grip on it to pull it out of the wall. "That was a master key!"
Jack smiled as an impulse to touch the lock suddenly overwhelmed him, and he did, freezing it over and freezing the Cheshire Cat's paws to the keyhole. The frost quickly spread over an area, forming into the shape of a door and then stopped.
Jynx, now somewhat stuck to the ice door, looked at Jack and grinned, "I knew that."
Jack chuckled, shaking his head, as he yanked the werecat off of the door and then opened it. He walked into the house and suddenly he felt the compulsion vanish, like a heavy weight had lifted off of him. The Frost Spirit breathed in relief as he saw Jynx hurry into the house before the ice door disappeared.
Jack smirked as the werecat looked around at the inside of the house. Jack knew where everything in the structure was, so when he walked past the painting of Sandy, he could swear that he saw it move. He went up to it and noticed that it seemed like it was a hologram in the frame. The Frost Spirit reached out to touch it and found that his fingers passed through a weak barrier.
Jack grinned as he turned to search for the Cheshire Cat. He discovered that the werecat was pocketing some items from a chest and the boy shook his head as he knew what his friend was doing. He walked up to the cat, grabbed the creature by his shirt collar and somewhat forcefully dragged Jynx with him. The Werecat hissed in surprise, right before they crossed through the barrier, into the Sandman's golden palace.
Alright! I did it. I created another chapter on a planned time too! So I hope that you enjoyed this and if so, then I'm glad.
Written to Deadweight by Zomboy, and People are Strange by Johnny Hollow