Author's Note: I felt bad leaving you guys on such a cliffhanger, so I did a mini-chapter. I don't consider this a full chapter, since it's so short. And once again, thanks to all the reviews, faves, etc. 500 views already! I'm super impressed. :) You guys rock. Also, thanks for the suggestion on the plot. I considered having Pitch hear the scream, but I couldn't resist him having another debate with himself. As for the Giant Tulip of Doom: I considered having Lillian travel through the warm air of spring, but then I realized if she was ever going to travel with Jack, warm air meeting cold air constantly = bad. So I made up the giant tulip instead. I figure traveling through the ground would suit her, since Bunny is associated with spring and he travels through the ground as well.
Also, I realize I kinda screwed up on what time of day it is. The Guardians assemble at night, but Lillian ventures out during the daytime to visit Jack and sees the sleigh leaving.. SIGH. Let's just.. ignore that, shall we?
Chapter Five: New Believer
Cold. Mind numbingly cold.
The water under the ice was so very cold. It felt like knives stabbing her when she went under.
Her eyes opened wide under the water. The lake was very deep and as she sank more, the water got darker.
She never told Pitch, since he liked the darkness so much, but she was sort of afraid of it. To her, it held monsters that were waiting to grab her.
So when she saw that never ending expanse of darkness below her, she did what any child would do.
She panicked.
She started to flail around, but her cloak that once kept her so warm, now was dragging her down even more as it had become waterlogged and wrapped around her, inhibiting her movements.
Her struggles which were once so frantic became weaker and things started to get a lot darker than they were.
Just as her eyes were starting to close, a hand grabbed a hold of the hood of her cloak and yanked her upwards.
She felt herself being shoved through the small hole she had accidentally created on the ice and she flopped over onto the ice limply.
There was another splash and then someone was roughly whacking her on the back.
She suddenly found herself coughing up water and afterwards taking great big gulps of air. The cold chill that was still lingering in the air suddenly hit her and she began to shiver uncontrollably.
When she realized that she had almost drowned, she burst into tears. She flinched when arms scooped her up and encircled her. But instead of finding herself in a warm embrace, she only felt more cold and shivered violently.
Jack, who was holding Lillian close to try to warm and comfort her, looked guilty.
"Sorry.. All I can do is keep you cold."
Lillian sniffled and looked up with tearful emerald eyes to see Jack's worried blue ones looking down at her.
"..I.. I w-want.." she stuttered as she continued to shivering.
"What do you want?" Jack asked quickly.
Lillian's lip trembled as she spoke.
"..I want P-Pitch..!" she wailed.
Jack blinked.
Wait a minute..
"The Boogeyman? You want HIM?"
Lillian nodded and buried her face into Jack's sweatshirt. She still hadn't stopped shivering and Jack knew she had to get warm quickly. Spirit or not, they could still get sick and Jack didn't want his friend to get sick because he kept her talking on the ice.
More guilt welled up in him as he realized he didn't know what to do. Why did Lillian want the Boogeyman of all people? He held her closer as the panic started to well up in him.
What was he going to do?!
Pitch had no sooner stepped out of the shadows back into his lair when he had the strong feeling that he should go back. He shook his head.
No, he didn't need to keep spying on Lillian.
Absolutely not.
No.
Maybe a peek?
No.
A peek is not hovering.
Just a quick one to assure himself that she was fine.
Alright.
A quick peek.
He sighed exasperatedly at his inner monologue. Was this absolutely necessary? Maybe.. He still had that nagging feeling. The last time a giant flower was spitting Lillian out. Did this nagging feeling mean anything?
With an inward shrug and him insisting to himself that this was not a sign of weakness, he went back into the shadows.
Golden eyes appeared on the tree and looked around.
When he arrived last time, Lillian was sent sprawling onto the ice and Frost was near the lake, looking around frantically. Now there was no Lillian or Jack. He squinted. There was something out on the ice.
He moved to the shadow of a tree that was closer to the lake and the golden eyes looked startled. There was a small hole in the ice and Frost's staff, the staff he never went without was laying near the hole, as if it had been carelessly tossed aside.
And for the first time in a very long time, he felt afraid.
As the feeling began to grow stronger, Lillian was suddenly shoved through the hole and flopped over onto the ice. He could feel his own panic welling up inside of him when he saw she wasn't breathing.
Before he could work himself up into too much of a panic, Frost came up through the hole and sprawled next to Lillian, coughing harshly.
He looked incredibly exhausted and there was a lingering fear in his eyes. Pitch could tell that Jack was afraid of the water under the ice, but he didn't know why. As Jack began to whack Lillian's back - (what on Earth was the idiot boy doing?!) - he could feel another fear well up in Jack.
The feeling of helplessness and the fear that Lillian wouldn't make it and it'd be all his fault.
Pitch however, ignored this as he stared at Lillian.
When she began coughing, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He'd only known her for a short time, but she had already wormed her way into his heart. He wasn't quite sure how, but he knew he would do anything to protect her.
Protect..
He mentally shook his head. What was he, a Guardian? Absurd.
He was shaken from his thoughts when he saw Lillian start to shiver. He frowned as he thought of how exactly to get to her. They were out in the middle of lake, with no shadows around.
When Lillian cried out for him, he suddenly realized something. Their shadows!
As Jack Frost continued to hold his friend, he was startled when a long arm reached up through his own shadow and yanked him back into it by his hood.
Wait.
His own shadow?!
Pitch stepped through the shadows into his lair, dragging Jack Frost by his hood, and by extension Lillian too, since Jack was still holding her.
With a glare at Jack, Pitch let go of his hood and immediately scooped poor Lillian up into his arms. He turned to Jack, who was gaping at him.
"You. Stay put." he commanded.
He strode from the room, leaving Jack all alone.
Jack stared after Pitch. What was that all about? And how did he get kidnapped through his own shadow? That wasn't possible, was it?
Apparently it was.
He shook his head and looked around curiously. They were in some sort of large cavern that was dimly lit through the entrance to Pitch's lair. He saw a large black globe, with a lot of golden lights shining on it, and apparently a couple blue ones. As he walked toward it to examine it more closely, he noticed that both of the blue lights were very close to each other, near Burgess.
One blue light was very dim, but the other shone brightly.
Jack didn't realize it, but he had just gained a very new, very strong believer.
Back at the Pole, the Guardians were about to leave their separate ways as Tooth still had teeth to worry about and Sandy had to spread dreams in the parts of the world that were dark.
Before they could leave though, Bunny made an observation as he had taken to studying the blue lights on the globe again. He wouldn't admit it, but this mystery was really bothering him.
"What the.. Hey! The lights are really close and one is shining very brightly!" he said as he stared at the globe.
The other Guardians hurried over. They looked at the globe, then at themselves. What had happened to change the belief of one of the blue lights so drastically?
Pitch walked back into the large cavernous part of his lair that he had left Frost in. He noticed Jack was looking at his globe and he frowned.
"I thought I told you to stay put," he said calmly while still managing to convey his unhappiness at Jack not managing to sit still for five minutes.
Jack jumped and looked over to see that Pitch was by himself. He held his staff a little defensively.
"Where's Lillian? What did you do with her?"
Pitch's eyes narrowed. Was this boy actually suggesting that he did something to Lillian?
Oh no.
No he didn't.
Pitch stalked towards the suddenly nervous winter spirit, his hands curled into fists at his sides.
"My Lillian is currently in her bed after changing into something that won't give her pneumonia," he said to Jack, his voice as frigid as a glacier. "Now.. why don't you explain to me exactly how she got into that lake, Frost. And so help me, if the words 'I didn't mean to' come up I will curse you into oblivion!"
Jack visibly flinched at the thought. Pitch was gaining power as the years went on and he knew that Pitch could very easily give him nightmares that would make adults weep.
He hurriedly explained all about trying to help Lillian with her powers and how she somehow transported herself to the lake via The Giant Tulip of Doom, and how she had sat on the ice for too long, thus melting it and -
Pitch held up a hand to halt Jack's increasingly rambling explanation and sighed.
"Very well.. You didn't intentionally try to drown her." he said more calmly.
He normally wouldn't have taken Frost at his word, but Frost's fear of what Pitch would do to him called out to Pitch, and he could tell that Jack was telling the truth.
"I suppose.." he said with the slightest hesitation, "..I should thank you for saving her."
Jack stared at Pitch.
What?
Author's Note: I swear that Pitch and Jack weren't going to interact so soon, but this little chapter ran away on me. I'm thinking it's probably going to take a long time before Pitch even thinks about being nicer to Jack. But it might happen eventually. I was thinking about the movie, and I sort of came up with a reason for Pitch to go on a rampage. It's a bit more noble than his movie reasons. :) That's all I'll say. If you have any plot suggestions or anything to comment on, just leave a review! I promise I'll take any suggestions into consideration, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'll use them.
Edit: Added on the family tag, since it seems to be turning into more of a family thingy. :)
