Author's Note: I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews. As for the guest reviewer who informed me about Pitch being involved in destroying Bunny's entire race.. My face was Jack's face at the end of chapter 5. Sooo.. thanks for the info, but I think I'll stick with movie Pitch. Anyway, not much to say about this chapter. I felt guilty for not updating for awhile, since I updated a little early last time. This chapter is fairly short and more or less a filler chapter. Next chapter will get into some fluff with Pitch and Lillian, and Jack spending time with his friend. I really am going to skip time eventually, but I'm having too much fun with current events. This will eventually get into the movie, but it's safe to say that it'll take awhile.
Chapter Six: Pitch's Rules
Jack stared at Pitch, eyes wide in disbelief.
Pitch took in Jack's expression and rolled his eyes.
"You'll catch flies, Frost," Pitch said dryly.
Jack had blushed and promptly found the floor rather interesting.
"Erm.." he said eloquently.
Pitch couldn't wait to hear what else the winter spirit came up with.
"Perhaps before you decide what to proceed with, you can explain to me exactly why Lillian was with you in the first place, especially when I forbade her to spend any time around strange spirits." Pitch said to Jack, his tone becoming slightly dangerous at the end.
He didn't think Jack needed the threatening tone, really, but he did have a reputation to uphold after all.
Jack looked affronted at being referred to as a 'strange spirit.'
"Well, why is she with the Boogeyman?"
Pitch frowned at Jack, disliking the accusatory tone that the boy was adopting. Who was he to decide that he, Pitch, was unworthy of a child?
After all, Frost was a child himself!
Wait a minute..
Pitch eyed Jack, for once looking past his annoying exterior and noticing how young Jack really looked.
Like a teenager, really. Certainly not an adult.
Technically still a child.
It was notoriously known throughout the spirit world that Jack Frost was a loner. He was somewhat the odd spirit out, as he didn't really socialize with the other spirits much.
Pitch chose to ignore exactly who that reminded him of. He mentally shook his head. What did it matter if Frost was still a child? He was a strange spirit, and that was that!
Then Pitch remembered that he needed someone to help Lillian with her spring powers and he inwardly grumbled.
"That," he finally said, "is none of your concern. What is my concern however is that for some reason, she decided to befriend you. Seeing as she nearly drowned in your presence - "
"Hey, I SAVED her!" Jack glared at Pitch.
It certainly wasn't his fault that Lillian got spit out onto the frozen lake and fell through!
"True," Pitch reluctantly conceded. "And since you are a seasonal spirit, I'm assuming you would somewhat know how to help Lillian control her powers. They are somewhat the same, even if they're for different seasons, correct?"
Jack eyed Pitch warily. He was a little confused about the topic change. How did Pitch go from threatening him, blaming him for Lillian's near drowning and then start to talk about powers?
He thought about what Pitch just said, running the last few seconds back through his mind.
Oh.
Lillian didn't know anything about her powers! And she better learn, so accidents like that didn't happen again. It was a matter of her safety after all.
He narrowed his eyes at Pitch.
Wait a second..
"Since when did you start caring about kids?" Jack asked, his tone a little accusing.
Pitch scoffed at this.
"If you don't know how to help her - "
Jack cut him off.
"I never said that! It's just.. why is she staying with you?"
Pitch looked at the intense glare Jack was giving him and inwardly sighed.
"I saw Lillian become a Child of Spring," he finally admitted, much to Jack's surprise. "I thought for certain that those Guardians would come fetch her, since they protect all children. They never came. I should have realized, since they obliviously haven't done anything for you," he spat bitterly.
"M-me?" Jack stammered. "Why would they help me?"
Pitch rolled his eyes.
"You obviously aren't an adult, Frost. Why else would you childishly pull pranks on everyone you can? You must be the only spirit to get on Cupid's bad side, and that's saying something."
Jack flushed a little at his reminder of a prank gone wrong on Cupid. The spirit was out helping love along in a park, when he got a snowball to the face. It was an accident. Really. The fact that the arrow that Cupid was shooting went off course to an eighty year old man wasn't in the slightest bit hilarious.
Jack might have gotten away with it, but he was laughing so hard he fell out of his tree.
Jack swore next time he'd prank a spirit that couldn't fly.
"But I'm not a little kid!" Jack insisted. Then he paused, thinking about poor Lillian. "They really never came for her?"
Pitch glowered, but not at Jack this time.
"She had absolutely no one, so I took her home."
Jack grinned a bit at that, all suspicion gone.
"Who knew the Boogeyman had a soft spot?"
Pitch turned his glare back on Jack.
"If you say ONE word, Frost - "
Jack, who had opened his mouth to say more than a few words, promptly snapped it shut.
"Good," Pitch said with satisfaction. "Now, if you're going to be helping Lillian with her powers, there'll be some ground rules."
Jack couldn't stay silent at this.
"I don't need any rules! I can be careful!" he insisted.
Pitch didn't look convinced.
"She fell through a lake," he reminded Jack none too gently.
Jack rolled his eyes.
"Again, not my fault."
Pitch chose to ignore this childish teenage bout of stubborness.
"First, no practicing whatever that giant flower is near the lake or any body of water." Pitch rose his voice over Jack's protests that it wasn't his fault. "Second, you are to stay around town or the forest. I WILL know if you've disobeyed me, and believe me, you don't want to know what the consequences are. First and foremost, Lillian must learn to control her powers. So before you try and get her into any tomfoolery, she must learn to spread Spring. I understand that eventually she'll have to visit other countries and travel the world, but for now I want her to stay around here. Especially during the daytime."
Jack half-listened to Pitch's rules. Blah blah blah, don't do fun things, work work work, blah blah.. Don't leave the area, blah blah..
Boooring.
Jack nodded at what Pitch was saying, feigning a look of interest.
Pitch looked a little suspicious at this very interested look, but continued on.
"If you must venture into town, I want you to watch for the townspeople. Lillian knows that for now, she's not to venture to town on her own. I've warned her about the people walking through her, but I'd rather she not experience this. However, given Lillian's current state, I doubt that she'll be leaving her bed for the next few days."
Jack looked concerned at this.
"She'll be okay, right?"
Pitch nodded, his expression serious.
"She'll be fine, but I don't need her catching a cold. So for now, you go.. spread Winter somewhere." Pitch said dismissively.
Jack was mid-nod before he stopped. He just had an entire conversation with the Boogeyman and it went.. alright. Sure there were some threats, and Pitch was talking like a boring adult, but.. he almost sounded.. normal.
Then Jack grinned a bit.
"Whatever you say, Pitch," Jack said with a playful smirk.
Pitch was about to say something about Jack's look when he suddenly received a snowball to the face.
Before he could finish wiping the snow off his face, he heard the sound of Jack Frost's merry laugh and the wooshing sound of the wind carrying Jack out of his hideout.
Oh he would pay.
