I don't own rotg sadly.
Enjoy!
The first signs of dawn were beginning to show across the frozen landscape; thin, golden rays of light were stretching across the thick layers of snow that covered the ground in the North Pole.
Jack looked at the small strings of sunlight and was instantly reminded of Sandy. The golden man was always letting the spirit watch his dream ropes as they looked for children to give dreams, as he liked to fly beside them. With a sharp pang, Jack realised that he could no longer enjoy simple things like spending time with Sandy- not until he found where Pitch was hiding them. Only then could the world be turned right again- the moon had told him so.
A large, wooden house that lay in the middle of the snowy wasteland pulled Jack from his thoughts; his eyes widened when he realised that he had arrived at last. He urged the wind to go faster and smiled at the familiar sight. Memories flooded through his mind of all the good times he had spent at the Pole; he smiled wider after thinking of a particularly funny memory which resulted in Bunny's ears getting frozen to a wall, unable to move.
"At least I've still got all my memories." Jack's smile faded as he landed on the Workshop's porch with a loud thump. Usually, Jack would easily hear the loud yelling of yetis or the sounds of things breaking because of the clumsy elves. What made Jack stop was the fact that he could hear nothing coming from inside the house. The spirit knocked on the door gently.
No answer.
He knocked harder and waited a few seconds before opening the door slowly.
"Hello?" Jack said and looked around, squinting in the semi-darkness that filled the room. He saw nothing but furniture that he had known so well, now covered in webs and dust.
"What?" The spirit whispered, walking inside and shutting the door after him. Floorboards squeaked under his weight as he began to explore the abandoned home. Along with dusty furniture, the Pole had clouded windows and hoof marks across its walls.
"No…" Jack could imagine the chaos that the nightmare horses would've caused when they ambushed the Workshop. He could practically hear the yells of battle and fear. He could see North, in the middle of it all, ready to fight with his two swords.
Jack flew the rest of the length across the room and pushed the next door open.
Suddenly the spirit was pinned to the floor by heavy arms, his staff sliding across the floor. He yelled as the weight pressed down harder. Quickly, Jack flipped onto his back and pushed the weight off using his back legs. Through the darkness, he could make out a big, bulky figure get slammed against the wall with a grunt. The spirit grabbed his staff before another mysterious shale could snatch it away; it immediately glowed brightly, giving him some kind of light.
"Enough!" Jack yelled and slammed his weapon on the ground, where ice shot out of the end and covered the floor. He stood in the middle of the room, panting, and shifted his gaze to the thing that he had knocked over a few seconds ago, which was now getting up slowly; through the warm, blue glow of the ice, Jack managed to get a better look at his attacker. He saw its thick fur in more detail, and realised who it was.
"Phil?" He asked. The yeti's eyes blinked at him for a moment, then a smile appeared under his hair. "Phil!" Jack ran over to him and helped him up, smiling.
"Sorry…you scared me…" Jack rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. The yeti suddenly pulled the spirit into a warm hug; Jack froze but then hugged back, glad there was someone that he still knew.
"Glad to see you too." He muttered; the yetis around him began to recognise the spirit and cheered. "Why did you attack me? I'm no threat!"
The lights flickered on and, at last, Jack could see properly. Phil released his hug and pointed to the spirit's hair.
"Oh, Yeah…" Jack fingered the long strands and grinned. "Do you like the new look? It's called 'overgrown'." The yeti laughed gruffly and grunted something in his language.
"What? Oh-" Jack's smile faded. "I just woke up…I never realised how long…"
Phil patted him on the shoulder and grunted something else.
"Yeah- thanks." Jack's smile returned. "I'm starving. And thirsty, too." He muttered more to himself, only just noticing how dry his throat was. Phil nodded and walked over to the kitchen, where and the other yeti followed. Jack watched them go, and the smile dropped from his face again. The yetis that he just saw seemed to be the only survivors of whatever happened at the Pole- he could've helped…protected them…but he was stuck in a coma. Jack spotted a door which was concealed behind the globe and walked forwards to it curiously. He remembered that room; North had always said that it was out of bounds to him as it was full of things he had collected over his adventures. He said that it was too dangerous for a inexperienced spirit to go alone inside. Jack slowly grabbed the door handle and hesitated, feeling the cool metal against his fingers. He knew he shouldn't be doing this- after all, some of the things inside could possibly kill him. But curiosity took over his reasoning, and the spirit pushed the door open quietly, shutting it behind him.
Like all the other rooms in the Pole, it was badly lit; Jack tried the light switch next to him but nothing happened- the light in the middle of the room gave a weak flicker then switched off again with a small click.
"Great…" Jack muttered and, once again, slammed his staff onto the dusty floorboards, creating frost that crawled along the floor and up the walls, glowing brightly.
"Whoa…" the spirit could now see many unusual objects resting on tables or hung on walls proudly; the first one that caught his eye was a blue, overgrown plant which had overflowed from its plant pot and was now hanging off the table and close to the floor. On its many stems, red flowers had bloomed with layers of petals. Jack swore they turned towards him as he moved closer, and he could hear quiet whispers coming from them. The spirit crouched down and carefully touched one of the mysterious flowers with his finger; the flower suddenly began to glow a warm red and others followed its example.
"Wow…" Jack breathed, stroking the flower again before standing up fully and searching the room for anything else that caught his eye.
On one of the walls there was a golden sword which had strange carvings on its blade. Jack moved closer and stared at it, mouth-open; the markings were actually drawings of strange animals and people.
Below the sword was a small box which was on a worn desk. The box was white and had silver stars painted on it. It was fastened with a silver clasp, the same colour as the stars that were decorated onto it. Jack undid the clasp and, after some hesitation, opened the box and looked inside; he gasped aloud when he saw what was inside.
"Stardust!" The spirit said and picked some out of the box in between his fingers. The dust was a silver-blue colour which shimmered in his grasp. The spirit placed the dust back into its box and sealed it, looking for anything else which was interesting around the room.
"What is that?" Jack muttered to himself, gazing at a set of amour that was on the opposite side of the room in a glass cabinet. The armour was completely black with strange shapes carved into his its metal. Next to it was a matching black hooded cape, hanging on a silver hanger.
"Cool…" Jack tried to open the case, but it was sealed shut.
A sudden grunt came from behind the spirit and he jumped, spinning around quickly; however, it was only Phil with a bottle of water and some cookies.
"Oh…it's only you." Jack smiled, looking at the food and drink. "Thanks!" Phil grunted a response and handed them to him. The spirit began to drink the bottle of water as he looked back at the armour.
"What's that?" The spirit asked, nodding his head towards it. Phil grunted something. Jack's eyes widened and pulled the bottle away from his dry lips.
"Shadow armour?" He breathed. "What does it do? Why has North got it?" The yeti grunted something else.
"Wait- so this armour is what North wore to slay rouge nightmares?! Wow!" Jack drank some more water before carrying on. "Why is it so special?" Phil replied in his language and the spirit's eyes widened again.
"Makes you immune from some shadow attacks…and helps you blend in with the shadows…cool." Jack bit into a cookie and began to walk away after Phil had gestured him to leave the room. Before he went, he muttered, "North was awesome when he was younger…"
—
Jack climbed up the wooden stairs leading to the top floor of the Pole, making frost creep on the banister. He wanted to visit his old room again, even if it was dusty like the rest of the Workshop. He reached the top of the stairs and he immediately saw a blue door with a snowflake hand-painted on it by North. Jack could remember easily when he first got a room in the North Pole: after accidentally telling North he slept outside, the Cossack made it his mission to create a place where Jack could call home. After a few days banned from the Pole, North told Jack he could return as long as he went upstairs first. The spirit agreed, and it was then he first saw the blue door, staring back at him.
Jack opened the door slowly and stepped inside, expecting to find it as damaged as the rest of the Pole.
But that wasn't what he saw at all.
Instead he saw that it was exactly as he had left it the day he went to battle for the last time: the walls were still covered in frost, icicles still hung from the ceiling and his mini ice sculptures of animals still lay on his bedside table. The only thing that was different was the fact that four single flowers lay on the bed- all of them were blue and they were in a line with white ribbons tied around their stalks. Somehow, after all this time, these flowers had stayed preserved as a memorial on his bed.
Jack froze, staring at the flowers for a few minutes. His staff dropped from his hand with a loud clunk and a single tear had fell from one eye.
"They…they did this for me?" More tears followed the first, and soon Jack was sobbing uncontrollably. He knelt on the floor and hugged himself; everything that he had to do was crashing down on him and he wished that he had North to tell him that he was going to be alright.
Or Tooth to tell him that he could do it.
Or Sandy to tell him that he would be watching out for him.
Or Bunny, to tell him to stop whining because he would help him.
But they were gone. Because he wasn't there to protect them.
"I'm sorry!" Jack cried out, sobbing harder. "I'm so sorry! I could've been there to help you! But now your gone!"
The spirit knelt there, on the dusty floorboards, for a few minutes expressing the raw emotions that had been shut off for so long.
Suddenly, a loud crash, followed by a chorus of panicked yells came from the floor below him. Jack strained up, grabbing his staff and wiping his eyes. Another bellow, in the yeti language, confirmed Jack's fear:
"Attack! Hide- everyone! A lone nightmare is attacking!"
Please review! Please! It really helps!