A/N : Thanks for the new reviews / favourites / follows! ^^
Time-LadyMararder : Hehe, I had several baking fails as well, but at least the were worth a laugh and were still edible, despite looking like horrible genetic manipulations gone wrong. XD
Actually I had pondered to use the quote from Lilo & Stitch but I had been watching Dolphin Tale a lot recently so I chose the other quote.
Okay, last chapter for this arc!
Like he had promised, Jack did help Bunny with cleaning the gigantic sentinel eggs. While the pooka had been busy merging the ingredients necessary for more of his special terpentine the Guardian of Fun was applying the small amount of already prepared liquid on the stoney surfaces and scrubbing the ( far too slowly for his liking ) dissipating paint off. After not even 5 minutes of work he understood why Bunny had been so aggravated, this stuff was a pain to get rid of! Of course he had known that the paint was waterproof but hadn't expected it to be that persistent.
However, it had taken the two guardians almost a whole week to restore the initial appearance of the oval-shaped rocks and get rid of even the last tiny bits of remainder from Jack's revenge. By the time they were done he swore that he would never ever use waterproof colours for pranks anymore.
A few days after they had finished the task North invited everyone to Santoff Clausen, claiming it would be a good idea to see each other now and then to just relax and talk next to their usual monthly guardian meetings. In fact he as well as the others were bothered by one question ever since they found Jack in Antarctica and they needed to know the truth.
The elves had brought plates of cookies, fruit cake and mugs of eggnog to the globe room and offered them to the guardians who where enjoying their chat. Tooth eyed the cookies suspiciously until North confirmed that his little helpers had baked sugarless ones just for her.
Jack was sprawled out on a big comfy red armchair, his legs dangling out on one side while he sipped the eggnog from a silvery mug. The first time he had tasted the liquid he almost had spit it out again, the taste was just too foreign to him but after a while he got used to it and now he actually enjoyed drinking it.
"So Jack…" North suddenly interjected and his tone changed into something the winter spirit couldn't pinpoint, but it sounded like something serious was going to follow.
He looked at the large Russian expectantly and with slight worry about what he was gonna say. Still his curiosity seemed to outweigh his fear for just a short moment.
"…I wondered…well, we wondered if you know anything about that black ice sculpture where we found you."
"Yeah, there was nightmare sand scattered all around it, but accordin' ta Sandy it's old so do ya have any clue what happened there?" Bunny added.
There was a tense silence, the four original guardians eagerly waiting for a reply while hoping the unpleasant question wouldn't cause their youngest comrade to run off again in case he should have something to hide.
Surprisingly enough, Jack just took a deep breath to ready himself for the answer and grabbed the mug in his hands tighter. They were his friends, his family, if they wanted to know the truth then he should tell them. Even if he felt more than uncomfortable about it.
"Well…you remember the Easter fiasco, right? After that I flew to Antarctica to clear my mind…I always went there when everything just became too much and I needed a place to think and….oh nevermind."
The frost teen fumbled the smooth surface of the mug with nervous fingers, trying to keep his mind focused.
"However, suddenly Pitch showed up, we fought, he wanted to convince me you were the bad guys and he my potential new best buddy and tried pulling me to the dark side. But I refused and got my butt kicked. And while that all happened our powers collided and that creepy nightmare sand ice thing was the result. End of the story."
None of them said a word. He had told it all in a hurry and with nonchalance like it wasn't a big deal, but he seriously only wanted to get over with it as fast as possible. What he expected from them he didn't know, he just wished this awkward silence would end.
Tooth was the first to break it.
"You fought Pitch…even after we treated you the way we did?"
"Yeah, of course. I messed up and felt guilty for it and he wanted to take advantage on me and…you know I don't like it when people do that."
Jack cleared his throat as he noticed his friends looking ashamed for a split second and quickly continued.
"I'm not a genius but I recognize a bad guy when he's standing in front of me and heck, Pitch is the personification of evil and you are exactly the opposite so…"
He took another, this time more shallow breath.
"…I needed to stop him."
"What exactly did he do to ya, mate?" Bunny asked out of the blue.
The thought of Jack fighting the boogeyman completely on his own did leave a sour taste and he had to know what happened after they had…he had chased the winter boy away.
No one was surprised that the teen hesitated and bit his lip nervously, debating if he should tell them or if he had revealed far too much already. When they were sure they wouldn't get anymore information out of him he suddenly continued in a very quiet voice.
"After I refused joining him he…he had Baby Tooth as hostage. He wanted me to trade my staff for her because I kept messing up his plans. I agreed but it was a trap and he threw her into a ravine and did the same with me…after he broke my staff."
Soft gasps filled the air as he continued to get it over with.
"When I had almost given up my tooth box started glowing and Baby Tooth showed me how to watch my memories. I saw my…my sister."
His lips formed into a small smile.
"That's when I realized that Man in Moon chose me because I always tried to protect her and that I was indeed a guardian. So I fixed my staff since Pitch had been so nice to throw it down the ravine as well, flew to his lair to free the tooth fairies but they couldn't fly because of the lack of children believing in them, saw that there was only one last light on the globe and realized it was Jamie so I traveled back to Burgess and you know the rest."
The explanation had gotten faster and faster towards the end. Jack seriously wasn't eager to get into more detail and deliberately left out the part about his death. For some reason he still didn't feel ready to talk about it and there had been enough drama recently, he didn't need the guardians pitying him even more. Heck, after what he had told them he must have sounded like some kind of martyr. Mentally he facepalmed at himself.
"Okay, guys, please say something or at least give me a sign you're still alive, this silence is driving me nuts."
As soon as he had finished the sentence a green feathery form had collided with him, embracing him in a death grip. Fortunately he managed to not spill the remaining eggnog in the mug in his hands over the hummingbird hybrid when she glomped him.
"Gosh Jack, I'm so sorry for doubting you back then! I should have known you would never betray us and...and-"
"It's okay, Tooth." he reassured her with a smile and awkwardly patted her back with his free hand.
"Can't change the past, what happened happened. It's the present and future which matters, right?"
"Still, I wish we could change past." North said honestly. "We were unfair towards you and that shouldn't have happened. I hope you can forgive us."
Jack gave them a warm smile and winked, his usual cheery self shining through.
"I already did. Nobody's perfect, eh?"
"That sure is right." the Russian man agreed, returning the smile.
And yet, he still felt horribly guilty and ashamed of himself. From now on he would do everything in his might to make up for the centuries of ignorance and the lack of trust. Jack deserved a caring family and North swore to himself that he wouldn't neglect or misjudge the boy anymore.
Throughout the conversation Bunny had stayed disturbingly quiet. While Jack had been telling his story the pooka was haunted by all the insults and accusations he had thrown at the boy whenever they had met. He had treated him like an unworthy brat and yet he had taken a stand for the guardians. Not only had he fought Pitch on his own, he even restored Jamie's belief in the Guardian of Hope.
He surely had a lot to put right. It wouldn't be an easy task since the winter spirit had a talent for annoying the hell out of him but he would do his best to show him that he was a part of them now.
A member of their weird little family.
The little brother he had never wanted but didn't want to miss now anymore.
Without him being aware of it, the other guardians had similar thoughts. Before the battle against the Nightmare King they had just done their jobs apart from each other and only met when there was a stringent necessity to do so. But Jack had brought them together, turned them into a family, tightened the bonds between each of them. How he had done it, they weren't sure. And it didn't really matter. What mattered was that he had done so much for them, prooved that he was anything but selfish and would sacrifice himself for those he cared for without a moment of hesitation.
He was worthy of being a guardian, more than anyone else.
And they would do their best to show him how grateful they were. For his trust, his love, his forgiveness and his loyalty.
Because they would never want to live without the Guardian of Fun anymore.
