Author's Note: This chapter is the longest one yet! I worked on it on two separate days, so that's probably why it's a little longer. Thanks for the reviews and all the favorites, follows, etc. This fic already has over 1500 views and that is amazing. So thanks to everyone who's been reading it! Oh, and I know nothing about tea, but Pitch seemed like a tea drinker to me. So I apologize if there is some tea-related mishap. I hate tea with a passion, so I don't know much about what goes into drinking it.
Chapter Nine: Tea Time & Sandy
Pitch could see that Jack didn't know where to go, so he gently pushed the winter spirit into a shadow.
Jack stepped out of the shadow, surprised to find himself in a dining room of sorts with the words ringing out behind him to stay put. So he took a seat at the - was that stone? - table and tried to wait patiently.
He originally had his staff propped up against a wall, but as the seconds dragged on into minutes, he grabbed his staff again and started absently playing around.
By the time Pitch had gotten Lillian into her room and calmed down enough that he could leave her for awhile, Jack had frosted the table top and it was lightly snowing in the room.
Pitch rolled his eyes at the scene.
"Can't you sit still for five minutes?" he said in the sort of tone an exasperated parent would use.
Jack blushed a little and it suddenly stopped snowing.
"It was more than five!" he said defensively.
Pitch shook his head again.
"Stay," he said to Jack emphatically, sounding a little like he was commanding a dog.
Jack huffed and crossed his arms as Pitch made his way to the kitchen.
A few minutes later (that felt more like hours to the impatient winter spirit), Pitch returned with two steaming cups of tea.
"You might need to let yours cool," Pitch said, suddenly remembering that hot drinks were probably not very good for winter spirits.
Jack nodded as a tea cup was set down in front of him, and put in a little sugar from the sugar bowl.
After Jack was done with the sugar, Pitch steathily moved the sugar bowl out of Jack's reach. The last thing he needed was a winter spirit hyper from too much tea and sugar zooming around the lair.
He eyed Jack thoughtfully as he stirred some sugar into his own tea, letting it sit for a moment.
"You are aware that she doesn't blame you for anything, correct?" he said finally.
Jack looked up at Pitch quickly, a little startled.
"But - " he started.
Pitch held up a hand for silence, cutting him off.
"She might be a seasonal spirit, but she's just a child, Jack. You know how that wretched pooka looks. He looks intimidating even when he's not in a bad mood. I can also understand you not wanting to cross a Guardian," he continued.
Jack looked like he wanted to speak again, but Pitch beat him to it.
"However, there is the matter of her safety. He's a Guardian of Childhood, I know. But I also know that none of them were there for her when she needed them. As far as I'm concerned, they don't have the right to take her anywhere. They had their chance. I want Lillian to continue her lessons with you, in a few days. Whether you go to town is your choice. But you should know, if you see that.. that.. Bunny again, you will take Lillian and fly as far and fast as you can go. Out of state, out of the country, wherever you deem necessary." Pitch said, his golden eyes gazing intently into frosty blue ones.
Jack, still bubbling with guilt, looked down and nodded.
"You will not tell any spirit whatsoever where Lillian is staying, or where you frequently visit, I might add. She can travel back here using her powers, once she's gotten them under control enough to do so. In the meantime, I've been working on a little something to help her, but it will take quite some time to make. So for now, I'm counting on you to look after her and keep her safe when you do go out with her. Understand?"
Jack nodded again, more to the table than at Pitch.
Pitch took a sip of tea, looking at the boy who was hunched over, white hair shading his eyes.
"..I don't blame you either," he muttered into his cup.
He set it down and spoke more loudly as Jack glanced up at him again.
"But you must be cautious around them, especially Bunnymund. He's known for being rash and he has a notoriously short temper. I wouldn't doubt that he'd try to take Lillian again, and for all his noble intentions I doubt I would ever see her again. I doubt he would let her see you again."
Jack nodded again, then hesitated.
"..Er.. you.. Lillian's not mad at me? For not saving her? I-I was going to! It's just he was so fast.." Jack trailed off.
Pitch sighed.
"No, she's not upset with you. She's upset because a certain Easter Bunny thoughtlessly yelled at her and you, and then while continuing to not listen, he tried to kidnap her. I think.." he said the last a little hesitantly himself, "I think deep down, she was hoping that they would be friends, as she's friends with you. Easter goes hand in hand with Spring, after all. She's quite traumatized, I can feel it. I doubt she'll ever be able to trust as easily as she once did. You're lucky to have her friendship."
He held Jack's gaze.
"Don't do anything to ruin it."
With that ominous note hanging in the air, Jack Frost and Pitch Black drank their tea silently.
A few days later, the Guardians held their monthly meeting. They had met before, briefly, when they all went to have a talk with Jack Frost but they hadn't had the time to talk about how things were going with their respective jobs.
Bunny was the first to arrive, as usual, and he went to the globe room to check out the blue lights.
He blinked.
Both of those blue lights were very close together near Burgess again. Strange. He sadly noted that one was so very dim and flickering, wavering on the edge of belief. If only they knew who it was! Or what it was.
The other blue light was behaving very strangely. It would grow so dim he was afraid it'd go out, but then it would shine brightly. It was as if the light had stopped believing in them, but then it would change its mind.
As far as he knew, the lights only showed children who believed in the Guardians. Maybe the light's faith was shaken in some of the Guardians, but not all?
He tilted his head with a thoughtful frown as North made his way into the room, plateful of cookies in hand.
"Is confusing no? I notice other day that the blue lights have been very strange," North said as he settled himself down in a chair.
Bunny reluctantly turned away from the globe, furrowing his brow.
Wasn't that around the time when he had a run in with -
Tooth arrived, chattering away at her fairies, causing the incomplete thought to vanish from Bunny's mind.
She smiled brightly at Bunny and North, but the smile dimmed when she saw what North was eating.
"Cookies again? " she said, eying the plate in motherly concern. "That's horrible for your teeth! I hope you brush and floss afterwards."
North chuckled as he finished off a cookie.
"Of course! Is no good that 'Santa' get cavities."
Bunny shook his head at this, thankful that his diet consisted mostly of carrots, so Tooth wouldn't have the chance to get on his case about what he did or didn't eat.
Sandy soon flew in via an open window, gently closing it behind himself so that there wouldn't be a chill in the room.
He waved happily at all of them and settled down on a couch. He saw an elf walk by with a mug of eggnog and happily snagged it from the elf, taking a long drink.
The meeting got underway, with each of them taking turns explaining what all had been going on the past month with their respective jobs.
North happily told everyone that preparations for Christmas were going very well, despite some of the yetis' poor choice of colors for some toys. Phil was currently in the process of repainting some three hundred race cars, and North himself was working on a nice ice prototype for some Disney characters that were quite popular. His goal was eventually to come up with a flying Peter Pan, but he wasn't quite sure how to make this happen mechanically and not magically.
Tooth reported happily about all the lost teeth her fairies had collected, and failed to notice when everyone's attention seemed to waver as she fondly reminisced about the baby tooth one of her fairies had collected the other day.
Sandy let loose a barrage of golden images above his head to happily indicate that dreams seemed to be going quite well and there were no problems.
Lastly, everyone turned to Bunny, who looked more serious than ever. Instead of a rant about a certain winter spirit and how Easter had been almost ruined, he surprised them with what he said next instead.
"Leif's gone missing," Bunny said, with a slight grimace. "I think something must've happened ta him."
Sandy said it best with a big, golden question mark above his head.
"I ran into a couple of spirits when I went ta check on Burgess a few days ago. One of 'em was Jack Frost," Bunny said with a scowl, "and the other was some kid."
"Ah, Jack has believer then?" North said with a smile. "Is doing good now, no? Talk must have been successful!"
"Wait," Tooth said, her eyes widening. "You said a 'couple' spirits."
Bunny sighed, looking annoyed.
"The kid's the new Spirit of Spring. And I don't think it was a coincidence that they were together, at the scene of the crime. Frost's obviously trying ta corrupt her into thinking that Winter is the best season! Just you wait, we'll be up ta our eyeballs in snow next spring!" Bunny said, ranting a little at the end.
"Bunny.." Tooth said, trying to head him off before he got into a proper rant. "What makes you think that? What happened, exactly?"
So Bunny told them mostly what happened.
"So I was going ta take her back ta the Warren, so she could learn about her powers from someone who knows all about spring and the kid started freaking out. Next thing I know, she'd disappeared and Frost took off first chance he got."
North looked thoughtful.
"There are spirits of all ages, but never before has there been a child," he said, completely missing the fact that Jack Frost was not of age when he became a spirit.
"Do you think something happened to her?" Tooth said worriedly. "What if it's Pitch?"
"Bah!" North waved his hand dismissively. "Pitch hasn't been seen since Dark Ages!"
"We should go find her," Bunny said. "Before Frost can get his hands on her again."
Sandy waved his arms, calling the others' attention to him.
He made a golden sand image above his head of a small child, and then someone a little older holding her hand, who had a shepherd's crook.
The meaning was obvious to everyone. The child spirit and Jack Frost.
Bunny suddenly appeared and yanked the girl away from the golden Jack Frost. The two disappeared and golden Jack's shoulders slumped, looking very sad.
"Sandy's right," Tooth said. "What if they're friends? We can't jump to conclusions."
"Friends? Him? " Bunny said incredulously.
He shook his head.
"Alright, say they are friends. That doesn't change the fact she disappeared. She could be in serious trouble!"
Sandy waved his hand again and the image of a sleeping child appeared above his head.
"Even spirit who is a child must sleep!" North exclaimed, deciphering the message Sandy was trying to get across. "Sandy can find her through her dreams. If she is dreaming nice thoughts of spring, then Sandy can go to where she is. Easy as pie!"
"Mate, she might not be dreaming about spring at all!" Bunny crossed his arms.
"My fairies can keep an eye out too, when they collect teeth," Tooth offered. "We'll have to be careful when we do find her though, it sounds like you gave her quite a fright, Bunny."
Bunny cringed a little at that.
"It was an accident," he said, his tone regretful. "She kept tryin' ta tell me Frost wasn't up ta no good, but I didn't want to listen. All I could think about was gettin' her away from him and to my Warren."
Sandy shook his finger at Bunny with a frown.
He showed an image of a monstrous Bunny towering over a little girl who was cringing away from him.
"Reckon you're right," Bunny mumbled. "She never saw me before and now I probably seem like somethin' ta be afraid of."
"Is settled then!" North declared. "We keep eye out for spirit and help her if she needs help. In meantime we have no choice but to wait. Now.. what do you think happened to Leif?"
And so the rest of the meeting continued on, with each of them speculating on what could have happened to the former spirit of spring, for them to a need a new one.
The next evening, Jack Frost was standing outside of Pitch's lair with a very reluctant Child of Spring, and Pitch. Lillian had absolutely refused to go out during the daytime, and Pitch determined that she could go out when it was around sunset. He would have to travel the world spreading nightmares, but he could travel much more freely at night.
With the assurance that Pitch wouldn't be too far away, and that the Easter Bunny definitely wouldn't be out at nighttime, Lillian was finally convinced to go outside.
Pitch had made Lillian take a long nap during the day, so she could stay out later that night. Pitch only allowed this, since she absolutely had to practice her powers and she would be safe with Jack Frost.
He gave Jack a very meaningful look, and Jack recalled their talk the other day about keeping Lillian safe. He nodded to Pitch, a serious look on his face for once and gently rested a hand on Lillian's shoulder.
Pitch's lips quirked in what was almost a smile that made Jack's eyes widen. Pitch ignored this and bent down to Lillian.
"Everything will be fine," he told her reassuringly. "Jack will keep you safe. You won't have anything to fear if you stay close to him."
Lillian nodded as the sky turned various shades of red and orange as the sun set. It would be getting truly dark soon.
Pitch gave her a brief hug, feeling only mildly uncomfortable with the display of affection and straightened up.
Before Lillian could think to ask where he was spreading his nightmares first, Pitch had blended into the gathering shadows and disappeared.
Jack glanced down when he felt a small hand slip into his. He couldn't help but think back to that day, when Lillian had done the same thing, her eyes wide with fright.
Jack took a deep breath and hitched a smirk on his face. That wouldn't happen tonight. He wouldn't let it.
He grinned at her.
"Race you into town!"
Before Lillian could protest, Jack had slipped his hand out of hers, and took off with the wind.
"N-no fair!" Lillian pouted.
She was about to take off running, but then realized: The Giant Flower of Doom!
She giggled, thinking how awesome it would be to beat Jack into town.
Her bracelet glowed and much easier than last time, the tulip grew to epic proportions as it swallowed Lillian whole.
As she was encased in darkness, Lillian briefly wondered if there was an easier way to do this, so the flower wouldn't send her flying every time it spit her out.
As she went flying through the air, landing thankfully on soft grass, she realized she definitely had to work on her landings. She quickly got up, brushing grass off her favorite black dress. She was once again wearing the one with the sparkly silver ribbon around the waist. Her hair was pulled back with a silver hair ribbon as well.
She looked up at the sky for a few minutes, watching the last of the light disappear in a blaze of red. Streetlights all around were already flicking on. Lillian looked around, wondering where on Earth Jack could be, when she spotted it.
She tilted her head at it. What was that golden ribbon in the sky? She looked around, and still not spotting Jack yet, decided to go check it out. Golden ribbons in the sky couldn't hurt you, right?
Lillian soon saw not one, but many golden ribbons in the sky. They seemed to be floating into houses, she saw. She curiously followed after one as it went into an upper story window of a house.
Lillian huffed in annoyance as she saw that all the golden ribbons were high in the air. As she was pouting at how unfair this was, a golden stream of sand snuck up behind her and whooshed around her.
At first she jumped, but then giggled as she saw it. Curious about what it could be, she gently reached out and let her fingers play through the ribbon. She was surprised when it felt like sand at the beach.
She gasped when an image burst forth from the stream: a beautiful golden rose. She smiled when the rose bloomed more, revealing more of its petals. This was awesome! She loved this golden ribbon.
She amused herself by pulling her hand away and sticking it back in the golden ribbon. Each time it would turn into something happy that she loved. As a spirit of spring, it always seemed to be turning into some sort of flower, but one time it turned into a golden figure of Jack. There was a little golden girl too, and they were pelting each other with snowballs.
She stared at the dream, wondering if it would be possible to play with Jack in the snow during winter. Would she freeze since she was a spring spirit?
Meanwhile, Sandy was hovering high above Burgess on a golden cloud. He frowned a little as he felt someone messing constantly with one of his streams of dreamsand. It wasn't unusual to feel a minor disturbance, as he knew that Jack Frost liked to play with them, but normally Jack ran his fingers through the sand once. No, whoever was doing this was doing it multiple times..
Like a child.
His eyes widened in realization.
Soon he was zooming through the sky on his cloud of dreamsand, following a particular stream back to a Child of Spring.
It didn't take long for him to spot her on the ground, giggling as she played with the stream. He could see that she was entranced by the possible dreams she could have.
He smiled at the sight, but then frowned. She looked so very young, and it was already getting late for a child of her age to be out and about.
He briefly entertained the thought of knocking her out with a ball of dreamsand, but then where would he take her? He knew that if she woke up somewhere strange, such as North's workshop, it would only frighten her more.
Deciding on the direct approach, he cautiously floated down closer to her.
Lillian jumped a little when she felt the sudden cold winter breeze, and Jack's cold hand on her shoulder.
"What do you think you're doing?" he said, his voice a little harsh.
Lillian started to turn to look at him, when something in front of her caught her attention: a little golden man standing on a golden cloud.
She blinked at the sight. Then she looked up at Jack. She had never seen him look so.. so.. un-Jacklike before. Usually Jack was all smiles and if not happy, then at least playful. But this Jack wasn't smiling. In fact, he almost looked a little mean.
She looked back at the golden man, her expression apprehensive now.
Seeing that things were not going very well, Sandy smiled his best smile at them to calm them down, and introduced himself by making an image of a sandy beach and then the image of a man.
Lillian blinked at the two images.
"Sand.. man..?" she said softly in puzzlement.
Sandy nodded emphatically at this and gave Lillian a thumbs up.
Lillian looked up at Jack for help.
Seeing Lillian's confusion, Jack elaborated for her.
"That's the Sandman," he said, "he's a Guardian."
Sandy was surprised at the way that Jack spit out the term 'Guardian'. Was he that upset by what Bunny had done?
Deciding to ignore that fact for now, he nodded at Jack, thankful for the introduction. He smiled at Lillian, making a golden flower appear above his head. He gestured at her.
Lillian could understand this well enough. It seemed he knew who she was, somehow. A little fright entered her eyes. How did he know about her?! Did the Easter Bunny tell him? Was he going to try to take her away too?
Unconsciously she shifted closer to Jack and clung onto his hand.
Sandy smiled sadly at this. She was so young, and now it seemed she was afraid of anyone who called themselves a Guardian.
He turned to Jack, making a flower and a question mark appear, wondering if Jack would introduce her.
"She's the spirit of spring," he reluctantly confirmed.
Jack didn't really have anything against the Sandman, but he had realized that Pitch was right. The Guardians already had their chance to help out Lillian and they failed. What right did they have to come and upset things now?
Sandy clapped happily at this, glad to have confirmation of his suspicions. He gave Lillian an extra big grin and a thumbs up.
Lillian stared at the Sandman, a little confused. He seemed to talk by making pictures, and he wasn't even trying to take her away from Jack. That's what they all wanted to do, wasn't it? The Easter Bunny had tried to and he was a Guardian.
Lillian tugged at Jack's hand and Jack looked down at her.
"Why doesn't he talk?" she whispered to Jack, but Sandy heard. It was night now and voices carried more easily.
"He can't talk," Jack whispered back. "He talks by the pictures he makes."
As if to prove that Jack was right, Sandy made a picture of a sleeping child above his head and pointed at Lillian.
Lillian didn't like being pointed at, and hid herself behind Jack.
Jack looked at Sandy and sighed. He got the point, it was way past her bedtime.
"Look," Jack said. "Everything's fine. She already took a long nap earlier in the day so she could stay up a little later. We're hanging around town for awhile tonight and then she's going home."
Curious, Sandy made a picture of a house above his head with a question mark.
Jack shook his head at this.
"She doesn't want anyone to know where she lives. In case you missed it, a certain Easter Bunny tried to kidnap her a few days ago. She trusts me because I'm her friend. She doesn't trust you," he said bluntly.
Sandy winced a little at that. He made some sand images above his head to indicate that Bunny meant well, he just went about it the wrong way. He showed that Bunny was only angry and not thinking rationally.
Jack shrugged at this, not sure what to believe.
"Look, can you just.. leave us alone? You're scaring her," he said with a glance behind him to Lillian, who was still hiding.
Sandy looked very sad about this. He had never frightened a child before. With a soft nod, he floated back up into the sky.
He glanced back down at the ground at the pair of spirits. Even with a nap, they were both up late.
Hoping that this wouldn't damage his reputation with the spirits, he did what he does best: give children good dreams.
Even if this meant a pair of child spirits. Because after all, Jack was still a child too, wasn't he?
Nobody else might have realized it, but Sandy could tell Jack was still a child at heart. When nightmares had often plagued Jack at his lake, Sandy had visited every once in awhile to give Jack a good dream or two.
He often saw Jack curled up in a tree or in the snow in the winter time, cuddling with his staff like it was a teddy bear.
When he saw Jack like that, it struck him how young Jack looked.
Now they had an even younger child spirit to look after. She might be frightened of them now, but he knew that if she saw each of them and they were nothing but kind to her, they might be able to fix things.
Hopefully.
With that thought in mind, he flew back down to the pair of now sleeping spirits. Not knowing where to put the Child of Spring, he gently pulled them both onto his cloud with him, as it expanded a little for the guests. Sandy made sure Jack had his staff and then took off for Jack's lake.
Author's Note: Somehow I don't think Pitch is going like this. Anyway, so Bunny and Sandy have met Jack and Lillian, now Tooth and North are left. I'm not really sure how Tooth (or more likely her fairies) will see Jack and Lillian, but I'll figure it out. So the next chapter will feature Pitch freaking out about a sleeping Jack and Lillian, maybe a little Tooth fairy goodness.. Hm! And if it's not too long, we'll get into some more serious time skipping. I figure it won't be long until Jack is zooming Lillian around (because really, even if he promised not to one flight couldn't hurt right?), getting into mischief. Then I think I'll have a few inbetween scenes and then we'll get into some more holidays like Halloween and Christmas. We'll see though, it seems like sometimes things don't go exactly as planned. Remember if you have an awesometacular idea that you think should be in this fic, let me know! I'm very welcome to all suggestions.
