A/N : I'm SO sorry for letting you guys wait! Started a new arc and wanted to finish it before uploading the first chapter here, but the damn thing just didn't want to end. XD
FFX2player : I know, right? I can't even survive 3 days without chocolate!
Q-A the Authoress : Indeed, it does!
insaneshadowfangirl : *eats your review* 8D
Natalie D : Oh wow, it's so nice to hear that I inspired you to write your own stories! Good luck with those.
Miki Fubuki : Thanks!
Shamangirl1 : Excellent, mwuahaha! It shall be our OTP! ;)
AyameKitsune : *hurries to write more*
Xion5 : Glad you like it!
teawithlucifer : I'll probably write about something like that soon, I bet North and Co. are hyperprotective when this arc is over.
YLover : Omg, you read it all in one day?! That's...awesome, I really feel flattered you liked it so much! I'm not a fan of Jack being shipped with everyone either, it's hard to find good stories which don't involve romance. Thanks, I really tried to show Bunny's and North's accents without making it too difficult to read. Jack's lonely past is such an important and interesting part of his life, I don't get why anyone would ignore it. I like young Jamie better as well, but sadly he can't be stopped from growing up. I don't plan to write back stories for the other guardians, but who knows, inspiration always strikes me randomly. And yes, I totally need to write more involving Baby Tooth, she's so adorable!
Andipandi5 : Glad you like both my art and my writing! Doing my best. ^^
percyjacksonforevah : Yay! We must promote it further!
madama678 : You'll get something like that in this arc. Haha, I never expected to write so much either when I started last year. I had a writer's block for many years and now I can't stop anymore because I constantly feel inspired. :) I wanted to continue "Belief and Friendship" right after uploading it but then decided to lay off the angst for a little while and write a few fun chapters instead. But the opportunity was too good to miss so here's a new arc. Enjoy!
*Sequel to „Belief and Friendship"/ set 5 years after the movie*
Though Jack tried to be careful to not get into danger or trouble with other spirits he literally seemed to attract it and couldn't prevent unpleasant incidents from happening now and then. Like today's encounter with Pitch. That surely was something he didn't want to experience again anytime soon.
On the flight back to Santoff Clausen he did his best to ignore the stingin pain in his chest where the dagger made of nightmare sand had pierced his skin. At least it had stopped bleeding.
When he arrived in his room he weakly dragged himself towards the silver framed mirror on the wall and examined himself. And winced as he saw the pale face with black rings under the eyes staring at him. He looked horrible. Soaked with blood and with a hole cut into it, his hoodie was obviously ruined. Maybe the yetis were be able to fix it, but then he'd have to take the risk of North finding out what happened. The yetis rarely did anything without reporting it to their master and Jack didn't like the thought of having to explain the events of the day to the old guardian. Or anyone else. Experience proved that all of the guardians had grown attached to him, which wasn't a reason for complaining, but that also lead to them being extremely worried about him. Not only once had they made a big fuss about a simple injury and if he could avoid another group-meeting with the topic 'Jack got hurt!' then he would try everything in his might to keep his fight with Pitch a secret.
Jack was glad he had provided for emergencies like this in advance. Since he saw it coming that he would have to deal with another injury again sooner or later he asked the yeti who was responsible for sewing North's clothes to produce a replica of his hoodie. Fortunately the furry creature hadn't asked any questions and agreed to do him the favour. Eventually he had even gotten three identical copies of his beloved top.
This proved to be a foresightful precaution. He could replace the bloody sweatshirt with the new one and no one would notice that he was injured. Slowly and carefully he took it off, threw it into his wardrobe and grabbed one of the replicas. Back in front of the mirror he realized he might better clean the wound before putting on the clean clothing. Dried blood was covering the main part of his chest and he groaned at the sight. It really wasn't pretty to look at. Cerulean orbs glanced around the room for something appropriate to help him with his plan but nothing caught his interest. Until he rummaged through some drawers and finally found a light blue towel. That would do. With a motion of his hand he created a perfect snowball, put it into the towel and rubbed it against the stab to clean and remove the blood. His body jerked as he touched the injury, causing him to stop for a moment to take a deep breath before he could continue. 'Fun' certainly was something different.
Several excruciating moments later Jack hid the blood stained towel in his wardrobe together with his hoodie and carefully slipped into his new one. A first aid kit wasn't part of his room equipment and he figured the cut would heal on its own so he refrained from applying bandages to it. Dried and frozen blood was sealing it, he had tried to remove it but that quickly turned out to be a bad and very painful idea. He would get rid of it once it didn't hurt so much anymore. What he failed to notice were the tiny grains of nightmare sand mixed into the dark red fluid.
What was he supposed to do now, he wasn't sure. On the one hand he wanted to go out and have some fun after all the drama this day had brought. But on the other one he felt as if his limbs were made of stone, the light weight of his own slender frame dragging him down. Dizziness crept upon him, adding to the tiredness and exhaustion that took control over his body. How could that be, he had slept for several hours back at his lake in Burgess. No way he should be that weary again already. Maybe the worries of the last months, the fight with Pitch and the injury had taken a heavier toll on him than he wanted to admit. The walls around him seemed to move and with his last ounce of strength and conscious thinking he stumbled towards his bed and collapsed, falling asleep the moment his body landed on the soft mattress.
Something wasn't right. He could feel it. There was something in his room. Something evil. Not a person or any kind of living being. More like a presence. A purely demonic presence. It scared him. His body felt stiff and didn't listen to his commands. It took him great effort to simply open his eyes. The room was dark and empty. Wait, dark? How long had he slept? The curtains where closed, letting only a faint glimmer of moonlight shine through them. He was alone. And yet he sensed someone, no, something near him. It came nearer, now he could rather feel than actually see the black foggy shape right in front of his bed. He tried to move, but he couldn't. His body was paralyzed, all he could do was lie there and stare at the dark cloud of whatever it was as it slowly creeped onto him. He panicked, his heartbeat increasing as he begged himself to finally move, so he could escape, fight, do something! The entity was now looming over him, it had no face, no eyes, but he knew for sure it was staring straight at him. Indulging in how absolutely terrified he was. It felt heavy, its whole weight pressing down on his chest and threatening to choke him. He couldn't breathe, couldn't run, couldn't hide. All he could do was stare into the nonexistant visage of the ghostly figure with wide eyes and silently pray to Man in Moon to chase it away. It must have noticed his pleas because once the thought had crossed his mind it applied more pressure on him and he thought he heard it chuckle devilishly. The only movements his body allowed were shivering in fear and struggling for breath. His arms and legs felt as if every inch of them had been firmly tied to the mattress. He couldn't handle this anymore. Closing his eyes he tried to calm himself down, told himself it would be alright, that this had to be just a nightmare. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. Then why did it scare the living daylights out of him? An invisible hand touched his throat, slowly intensifying its hold on him.
Jack woke up with a strained gasp and jerked up into a sitting position. What the hell had just happened!? His body was still trembling as he nervously scanned his surroundings. There was no sign of anyone or anything else being here. The curtains were open and the sunlight shone brightly through the windows. It all seemed peaceful, like it usually was. But he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was watching him. He was still scared. Why exactly, he didn't even know. It was just a nightmare. And yet, it was different. He had never experienced anything like this before.
Whatever it was, it had scared him. A lot. All he could do was reassure himself that it was just a non-recurring event. It had to be. Of course he was pretty sure that Pitch was responsible for this, but he convinced himself that he was far more powerful than the weakened Boogeyman. He could deal with it, he would fight and defeat whatever the bastard had unleashed to haunt him. And yet, he couldn't handle the silence and the loneliness of his empty room anymore. Company, yes, he needed to find someone who would hang out with him. North was probably in his office, so he decided to pay the old man a visit.
"Hello, Jack! What brings you here, my boy?" the Guardian of Wonder greeted the frost teen warmly.
He leaned over his desk, which was covered with several toy prototypes for the upcoming Christmas, and applied the finishing touches on a spaceship which appeared to be very much influenced by the Steampunk-style.
"Nothing in particular, I just wondered if you maybe need help?" the young spirit explained and curiously eyed the icy sculptures next to him to distract himself from the nervous feeling that still roamed in his guts.
"That's nice, I'm almost done but if you want you can add details to robot-dragon over there, didn't have time for that yet." North suggested and pointed at a piece of ice which only showed the rough shape of said dragon.
"Yeah, can do that." Jack agreed and put his staff against the wall before taking the sculpture and cautiously carrying it to the desk where North had made a little space for him.
Over the last years he had perfected his technique of creating breathtaking things out of ice and managed to do it faster than anyone else could ever do. Now however he had a hard time getting the desired effects. His mind felt foggy, he couldn't concentrate on the intricate task and his fingers, which trembled ever so slightly, weren't exactly useful either. A part of the dragon's wings broke off and he could barely stop himself from cursing out loud before he hurried to rebuild it. The winter spirit's unusual clumsiness didn't go past the Russian guardian. With a worried frown he observed him as inconspiciously as possible while working on his own sculpture. The boy looked tired and unconcentrated, hís frustration about himself increasing the more he tried to focus.
"Jack?"
North's voice sounded so firm and caring that he immediately interrupted his hopeless attempt at a decent protoype and looked at the taller man.
"Are you alright?"
His heart started beating faster as the question hung in the air. If he told North what had happened with Pitch everyone of the guardians would be informed about it in a matter of minutes and they would go crazy of worry again. They always did. And he didn't want that. He was over 300 years old, he could deal with it on his own.
"Yeah, everything fine. Why do you ask?"
"Because you seem a little out if it. Tough day?" the Cossack inquired.
"You could say that..." Jack replied before he could stop himself.
"If there's something you need to talk about, you can always come to me, you know that by now, right?"
A weak sigh escaped the teen's mouth as he nodded.
"I know. Really, it's nothing. Don't worry." he said and proceeded to refine the dragon sculpture in front of him.
Well, at least he tried to do so. The Guardian of Fun had proven countless times how stubborn he could be so North had to accept the short reply and hope he would turn around sooner or later. In case there was something wrong with him. Jack literally shrunk under the Russian's stare as he bowed over the piece of ice, eyes focused on it so much that he didn't dare to look even an inch away from it and shoulders tensed just like the rest of his body.
"I'm done with this for today, you can finish yours tomorrow, if you want. I planned to check some books in the library, care to join me? I recently found a pirate novel you haven't read yet." North offered and winked at his young friend to ease the mood.
Like he hoped, the teen's blue eyes lightened up and his lips formed into a wide smile.
"Yeah, sounds good."
After finishing the third chapter of the pirate book Jack cursed the red velvet armchair for being so damn cozy. His eyelids kept drooping as he grew more and more tired with every page he read, his body and mind fighting against the waves of drowsiness. In vain. Although he didn't want to fall asleep he lost the battle against his exhaustion. North glanced up from his spot in the armchair across from Jack as the book had slipped from his hands and landed on the carpet. Smiling gently when he realized the boy was sleeping peacefully he continued to read his own book.
Jack's sleep however was anything but peaceful.
"No, not again..." was his first thought when he felt that ominous presence again.
It was close. Too close. His armchair suddenly lacked any sort of comfort as he opened his eyes with great effort only to realize this was once more the only part of his body he had control of. He tried to move his head but only managed to turn it the slightest bit so he could see North sitting mere feet away from him. The library was dark, even the fire in the chimney was extinguished. For a moment he wondered how North could read a book in this darkness but the thought was quickly pushed aside as he saw a black shadow creeping up from behind the Russian's chair and slowly floating towards the teen himself. He tried to open his mouth, tried to scream for help but only pathetic choked gasps escaped his throat. The guardian across from him didn't notice his desperate struggles for attention. By now the spooky cloud of black fog had reached him and was creeping onto his paralyzed frame, enjoying every second of causing its victim sheer horror. Inwardly he was hyperventilating. His heart hammered against his chest and every inch of his body termbled as the blood-curdling entity was getting comfortable on his chest. An immense weight pressed down on him and made breathing nearly impossible. He feared his ribcage would burst any moment when the pressure increased furthermore. Again he tried to scream but no sound came out. A pleading glance was shot at North who was still oblivious to the attack. Just like in the first 300 years of his life he was on his own, he had to fight it himself. But no matter how hard he tried to pull himself together and move his arms to push the shadow off of him, the only thing he was able to do was lying there paralyzed and staring into the nonexistant face of his enemy. His whole being was corrupted with fear, he couldn't handle it anymore. Full of despair he clenched his eyes shut and begged for it to leave him alone. He could feel its menacing and devilish glare on him, its disturbing touch and its excruciating weight on him. And right then he thought he heard it laugh at his blatant inability to fight back.
North cast a bewildered look at Jack when he gasped and almost fell off the armchair right after waking up. The young spirit scanned his surroundings with confusion written all over his face, as if he had no idea where he was. In truth he checked if he was save for the time being and if the menacing shadow had really dissappeared.
"Had a nice nap?" the Russian Santa asked matter-of-factly and only shortly glanced up from the book in his hands.
"Yeah...totally." Jack lied, surprised that North didn't seem to notice the sarcasm in his voice.
"How long have I been out?"
"Huh? Not sure, three quarters of an hour, I think."
"Oh..."
It was weird, he had the impression he had only slept for a few minutes and those were plagued by that creepy entity. Strictly speaking he felt like he hadn't gotten any kind of rest at all. Even though he doubted that what he had just experienced reflected reality he couldn't help but send a reproachful glare in North's direction, who was still engrossed in his book. The memory of the big guy just sitting there and not moving a finger while the teen was attacked left a sour taste. No, he shouldn't blame him for something that had taken place solely in his own mind. Jack rubbed his tired eyes, trying to figure out what to do now. As a spirit he could sustain weeks without sleep, though that was another reason why his current condition bothered him a lot. His mind and body acted as if he hadn't slept for months. What he had to do now was to keep himself busy so he wouldn't fall asleep anytime soon again. Sitting in the library with North as quiet company would definitely not ensure that. He needed to go somewhere else, to someone who would challenge him and be entertaining enough to keep him awake.
"I'm gonna visit Bunny, see ya later." Jack suddenly blurted out, grabbed his staff and slowly got on his feet.
The Guardian of Wonder eyed him with a knowing smile for a moment, only to continue reading his book right afterwards.
"Be nice."
"As usual." the winter spirit retorted and walked out of the door.
A/N : Has anyone of you ever had night terrors? I have them every few months and seriously, they are freaking me out more than any nightmare. Originally I wanted Jack to be haunted by nightmares but that's been done in several fanfictions already and I can't remember ever having read something involving night terrors. Oh and btw, during beta-reading I noticed a tiny plothole ( bad me ). The reason why Jack didn't have a night terror when taking a nap at the lake right after Pitch's attack is that the nightmare sand needed a while to spread through his body and affect his mind. I hope that makes sense. ^^"
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