Enjoy!
Ok, so maybe that last move was a bad idea.
Jack looked up at the giant snake's head, which was about to lunge at his throat. It had coiled itself around him after he thought he could jump out of the way in time. His aim was to make it crash into the wall, hopefully stunning it long enough to stab his sword hard into its skull. However, the snake was one step ahead of him, and it now had wrapped itself around the spirit, slowly crushing him to death.
Great.
Jack tried to free an arm again, like he had been doing previously, but they were pinned tightly to his sides.
Just great.
"Give me a break…" The spirit moaned, tossing his head back lazily. "You were in my way…you could've moved…but no! You decided to fight me, not me. I would never try to fight myself, personally. Not because I'm afraid I'd loose – not that – I'm just too annoying."
The snake hissed, leering closer to the point that its tongue graced his cheek.
"Easy…" The spirit muttered, trying to shift away. The snake hissed again, opening its jaws wide.
"God damnit!" Jack yelled in frustration; he tried routing through the pocket of his cloak, trying to find something – anything – that would help him. "I don't want to get eaten by a great, big, dirty snake! No offence." He added as the nightmare's eyes slitted. The spirit furrowed his eyebrows, concentrating on the small, oval thing that slipped into his fingers.
"Hey, that hurt!" Jack yelled as the snake squeezed him tighter, to the point where he thought he was going to explode. Could that happen? Well, he was going to find out in a minute.
Jack felt the object in his hand more carefully, suddenly realising what it was.
It was the egg that Bunny had given him before he left. Use it for a quick escape, he had said. A distraction.
Again, desperately, Jack tried to move his arm, wanting to throw the egg in the snake's smug face, but the grip was simply too tight.
Unless…
A huge explosion of colour suddenly erupted around the snake and over Jack, throwing the spirit backward and into the wall. The snake hissed angrily and thrashed its tail, looking for its victim. However, it was next to impossible to make out anything amongst the clouds of green, blue and pink that now filled the tunnels and rooms next to it. Jack found himself laughing, despite being upside down against the wall, unable too see anything, as coloured paint ran from his brow.
It certainly created a distraction.
To be fair, he wasn't expecting to be blasted out as if he just been shot out of a cannon; all he wanted was to loosen the nightmare's grip so he could slip out of the coils and grab his sword - which was now currently a few metres in front of him, slowly getting hidden by the paint powder sinking to the ground. He hadn't expected for the explosion to be so powerful, and now Jack knew why these eggs killed nightmares.
Speaking of eggs, Jack noticed that the light blue gift was rolling slowly towards him, despite all the chaos. The spirit slipped off the wall and landed on his side with a slap. His armour now had splashes of blue and green in most places, and his feet were bright pink. As the spirit fell, he caught sight of his hair as it fell past his face. He groaned, touching a lock of hair, eyes full of hurt and dread.
"This is going to take ages to wash out…" He muttered. His hair was now 'decorated' with a variety of colours, mixed together. He looked like one of Sophie's colouring books, in short.
"My poor hair. Bunny's gonna laugh." The snake hissed again, closer than it was before, quickly persuading Jack to get to his feet and grabbed his sword before it completely disappeared from view. The dye was now fading, allowing the spirit to catch a glimpse of the nightmare's head. Quickly, Jack dropped into a crouch, grabbing the small egg and putting into his pocket again. He changed his sword into a bow; an arrow formed in his hand, and he placed it in the bow, ready to shoot. The spirit looked up again, through the fading dye, and found that the snake's red eyes were staring directly at him.
With a hiss, the nightmare charged forward, its tail thrashing in excitement.
The same moment, Jack sprang upwards, pulling back his arrow.
Almost…almost…
The spirit waited until he could see the slit-like pupils in the monster's eyes, then released.
The arrow met its target, straight through the nightmare's eyes. Black sand erupted on contact, spraying the coloured walls with ebony.
The snake let out a inhuman shriek and skidded across the ground and past Jack, creating a black path. The spirit lowered his bow and wiped a streak of black liquid off his cheek, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"Wow." Jack muttered, watching the snake twitch for a few seconds before stilling entirely. The spirit switched his bow back into a sword and pulled his hood over his head. Still, it didn't hide the array of colours that now coated his armour. He looked down at his outfit, sighing, and brushed off the worst of the powder.
"Better go and find whoever is here." Jack muttered, looking around the ruined battlefield. There were three entrances and two holes that were specialised for nightmares.
"Umm…" Jack span around on his heel, deciding what entrance would lead to the next guardian. He already had ruled out the three obvious entrances – one of them was the one he entered earlier, and the others seemed too easy. Pitch knew he was alive, and he was likely to try and lure him into another trap like the one he fell into earlier. It would only make sense to hide a cell in a small space, which lead to a larger opening.
Jack moved closer to one of the holes, poking his head through. Looking for any clues that could indicate that someone was in there. However, the space looked like it was just a narrow tunnel, leading to the surface.
"Guess I'll go through the other one." Jack muttered, stepping over the snake. His feet left a pink footprint after each step, still covered in paint. The spirit shoved his sword forward and crept into the hole, feeling like a snake himself. As he predicted, the tunnel lead into a large opening, and Jack slipped out of the tight space, relieved to stretch his legs. Scooping up his sword, he crept closer to the opening, sticking close to the walls. With the cape silencing his footsteps and the armour absorbing him into the shadows, he was practically invisible, only a pair of blue eyes could be seen shining in the darkness.
—
The yelling had stopped, and so had the hissing. Sandy found himself alone again in the cell, wondering about the fate of the fighter that had tried to slay the nightmare. Though he wished that the mysterious person had won, his mind was against him, pointing out that there could be no way anyone could survive the nightmare's wrath. The monster, from what he could see, was nothing like he had ever seen before, towering over what he himself could produce. It was strong, powerful, and fuelled by fear. Or, to be more specific, his fear. It would be impossible, even with all guardians fighting together, to beat just one of those things.
It was just impossible.
But, if it was Jack, then maybe…
No, it couldn't be. Sandy had always held onto the hope that Jack was alive, but lately that hope had been fading. Like defeating the nightmare, it was just impossible for the spirit to still be alive, or still in a coma. No one, not even immortals as far as he was aware, could survive for seventy years, trapped in the ice. And at this point, Pitch could've easily found him and killed him, like he intended to before. It wouldn't be hard, seeing as Jack was unconscious, to pull him out of the ice and-
Sandy closed his eyes tightly, pushing away the thought. As the minutes grew, the guardian of dreams opened his eyes again, letting out a silent sigh. Just as he was about to close them again, planning to rest, something caught his eye, in the corner of the cell.
Two other eyes were staring back at him, shining blue slightly. The rest of the figure seemed to be in the shadow, still and silent.
Sandy moved back as much as he could, fearing whatever this new nightmare was. Well, it could only be a nightmare, couldn't it? What else could blend into shadows like that? However, he wasn't expecting the nightmare to speak.
"Sandy?" The whisper sounded unsure, but excited. Sandy studied the figure closer, unsure himself. Only the other guardians called him Sandy, no one else. Could it be – no. He couldn't raise his hopes again. It was just like Pitch Black to torture him in this way: making him think that there was someone here – a cruel trick to send him over the edge.
"Sandy?" The voice said again, louder. The figure shifted, now standing at a full height. Sandy narrowed his eyes, and caught sight of some pink feet.
Pink feet?
Sandy wanted to ask who was there, and how it managed to paint its feet pink. Wanted to ask if it was really who he thought it was. Wanted to hope.
"Sandy – it's me!" The figure stepped out of the shadows, and the sandman thought he was dreaming. The stranger had most of his face covered by a hood, and his body was covered by black armour. But, he was grinning in a way that only one person he had ever met could.
Only a grin that wide could belong to Jack Frost.
PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS RAMBLING! Thanks.
Can I just Thanks this guest, who send me this review today. I would do this in person, but they are a guest, and I can't PM them. Their idea is great. I was planning to make Pitch step up his game, but for spoiler reasons I can't tell you anymore than that. ;)
To that guest, thank you so much! I really like this review, but in case you didn't want all of it shared, I've just included some of it. A part of their review is below.
:Dude don't feel bad, this is great! Like seriously, I love this.
A good idea would be for Pitch to pick his game up a bit. Like once Jack frees Sandy, and he finds the frost, knows that it really IS Jack Frost—'alive' again, he makes a plan…
…But hey, whatever you do or whatever ends up happening, I'm excited to see, like, I mean it!
Thank you so much to everyone else too who reviewed this story, because they all really helped me continue with this story. Seriously, without you guys I think this story would just be half-completed, and a mess. Really, thanks a lot.
All your reviews and improvements make me smile, and they encourage me to create more chapters, keeping your suggestions in my mind. I would say this in person as a PM to you all, but most of you are guests, and obviously (and unfortunately) I can't do that.
Thank you so so so much – keep loving the Rise of the Guardians fandom!
;)