Author's Note: First of all, I have to say I LOVE the suggestion of Lillian calling Pitch 'Dad' at some point and him getting all emotional. I didn't see this until after I had written the chapter, but that is so appearing in the near future. And, I kinda lied about this chapter being all about things being resolved. It is technically the movie end, since the kids DO go home, but.. there is SO much.. unresolvedness! You'll see once you read the chapter. Let's just say things are messed up (thank you, horrible Easter) and the Guardians are going to have to REALLY work to make things right. And you know I couldn't resist giving you another chapter. I couldn't leave things hanging like that. I promise this one isn't so cliffhangery.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Almost Forgotten
Bunny, now his intimidating full size, glared at Pitch mistrustfully as the intense moonlight from Manny finally faded. He stomped back over by Tooth and got his boomerangs back, making sure to place them in their holders on his back.
Pitch still looked confused as he took in the sight of Jamie and his friends surrounding him. When his gaze fell on Jamie, Jamie gulped and moved back. His friends decided to do the same, giving Pitch more space.
Pitch's gaze then fell on Jack and Lillian.
Everything seemed so.. so.. vague now. He couldn't remember what he had been doing, or why he seemed to be sitting on ice or why those children were just staring at him. Since when could children see him?
Lillian looked at Pitch anxiously as he seemed so confused. He had changed like Jack had when Jack was all black, and she knew her own memory was fuzzy. Was Pitch's memory fuzzy too? But Pitch had always been gray as long as she and Jack had known him. Did this mean he didn't remember anything about Jack or her? Had he forgotten?
"..Pitch..?" Lillian said hesitantly, her voice small.
Jack glanced down at Lillian and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He looked back at Pitch and realized what she was so concerned about. Jack couldn't remember much about what he had been doing or what had happened when he was under the influence of the Nightmare sand. If Pitch had something similar happening with him, would Pitch even remember him or Lillian?
He thought of all the talks he and Pitch had had, and all the holidays the three of them had spent together. Jack remembered the familiar way that Pitch would ruffle Lillian's curls or when she would sit sometimes on Pitch's lap and fall asleep while he was talking to Jack.
He remembered how he and Pitch would tuck Lillian in at night and how happy Lillian had been over the years, before Pitch started acting strangely.
Jack felt a lump in his throat and his heart constricted at the thought that Pitch might have forgotten all that.
If Pitch couldn't remember, their little family would be gone.
Pitch looked away from the stricken faces of Jack and Lillian. He couldn't understand why those two were looking at him like that. It certainly wasn't because of anything he had done.
He felt something in his pocket and gently pulled it out. He blinked when he saw the very ruffled and ticked off Baby Tooth. She had been in Pitch's pocket for so long! Ever since he had grinned wickedly at her before he took off for Antarctica and placed her in there 'just in case Jack wouldn't cooperate' as he had put it.
She glared angrily at Pitch and stuck her beak in his hand.
"Ouch!" Pitch said as he dropped her in shock.
Baby Tooth quickly darted to the safest place she could find: Jack's hood.
She burrowed herself in it and didn't seem inclined to come out any time soon.
Pitch felt something else in his pocket and pulled it out. In the background Tooth gasped as she saw Pitch was holding one of her tooth canisters.
Pitch furrowed his brow. Why in the world did he have this?
He turned the case around so he could see the picture at one end. It was of a small girl with curly, brown hair and gray eyes. The brown was more dull and ordinary. He stared at the picture. It seemed so familiar...
Then it hit him.
A girl in pink laying against a tree in the snow, her fear calling out to him.
Him comforting her as she lay there dying.
The moon smugly transforming her into a Child of Spring.
Lillian.
The new spring spirit.
He remembered a giant pink flower spitting her out onto the icy surface of a lake.
Her meeting a boy..
Jack Frost.
Spirit of Winter.
He tightened his grip on the canister as memories suddenly flooded him.
Bright points in a sea of neverending darkness.
Sitting with Lillian in a cave room, reading her bedtime stories.
Sitting at a table with Jack, drinking tea and discussing serious topics.
Watching them play around in the snow.
Lillian and Jack's very first proper Christmas with a tree that they had all decorated at Pitch's.
Flashes of holidays all celebrated together.
He remembered sitting there with Lillian in the clearing as she had just become the Spirit of Spring not long ago.
"We'll be like a family," she had told him, her eyes sparkling.
A family.
Something he had always longed for.
A family...
He looked up from the canister to the stricken faces of Jack and Lillian and suddenly realized why they looked so stricken.
He had almost forgotten them.
Almost.
But not quite.
His expression softened a little as he looked at them.
Tooth put her hands to her mouth, staring in disbelief at Pitch. She couldn't remember him ever looking like that. Not as Pitch Black.
"Oh my goodness!" she whispered.
Sandy watched thoughtfully and North seemed very surprised as well.
Bunny frowned, not quite believing what he was seeing.
"P-Pitch?" Lillian said again, hesitantly.
"Foolish children," Pitch said and gave them an eye roll. "Did you honestly think that I could forget you?"
"Oh, Pitch!" Lillian cried out as she launched herself into his arms.
Pitch wrapped his arms around her.
"I would never forget you," he murmured to her.
Jack settled for a happy grin and walked over closer to them.
Jamie, his friends and the rest of the Guardians all looked very shocked at Pitch hugging Lillian.
The Boogeyman was hugging someone?
Lillian started to cry as she clung to him.
"I thought I lost you!" she sobbed. "Y-you were so d-different..!"
Jack knew that Lillian was referring to when Pitch began to change and get more distant with them, and then when Pitch was.. well.. evil.
Pitch rubbed her back soothingly.
"It's a little vague," he admitted to the spirits softly. "But I do remember both of you. That I remember quite clearly."
"So.." Jamie said hesitantly. "Uh.. You don't want to take over the world anymore and give everyone horrible nightmares?"
Pitch blinked and looked at Jamie as if he had never quite seen a child like him before. He gently pulled away from Lillian and got up to his feet.
Jamie gulped and resisted the urge to move even further back.
"I have no interest in ruling the world," Pitch said giving Jamie a strange look. "And as for nightmares.. Every child needs a nightmare or two. That's how they learn to conquer their fears. Too many of course, would defeat the purpose."
Bunny stomped forward at that, despite Sandy trying to stop him from going on his tirade.
"Then what about all those bloody Nightmares?!" Bunny shouted. "Those horses runnin' around every which way causing chaos?!"
Pitch looked over as if noticing the Guardians for the first time. He narrowed his eyes as if trying to remember them, like a long forgotten dream.
His expression cleared as the memories came to him.
Of course.
Nicholas St. North, Toothiana, Sanderson Mansnoozie and E. Aster Bunnymund.
The Guardians.
The Guardians of everyone but immortal children, he remembered.
But they had recently redeemed themselves when they finally started acknowledging Jack and Lillian at Christmas.
Something had happened after that..
He had been.. experimenting with something..?
He furrowed his brow as his memories turned vague again. Some memories were very clear, but others were extremely vague.
He frowned up at the full moon, knowing that he probably had something to do with this.
The moon sat there innocently as a moon could, but Pitch wasn't fooled.
"Are those mine?" Lillian asked Pitch as she pointed at the tooth canister he was still holding.
Pitch started a little and looked down at it.
"I believe so," he said slowly.
Lillian brightened at that.
"Those are my memories right? I remember you telling Jack that those were our memories from before we were spirits!"
Before Pitch could say anything, Lillian had tugged the canister away and was examining it excitedly.
"I want to see!"
Jack suddenly remembered his own canister and reached inside his hoodie pocket.
Sure enough, it was in there. He pulled out his own golden canister and Tooth gasped.
"Their memories! Pitch must have given it to them!"
"But why?" North murmured. "We thought that Jack was in league with Pitch at the time, but now we know is not true."
Sandy shrugged, as he hadn't been present at that time. But he could tell that Pitch was very different with Jack and Lillian than he was with anyone else. Perhaps that had something to do with it.
"I forgot about them," Jack admitted sheepishly. "But now we can finally see them, right?"
Pitch looked hesitant at that, remembering his suspicions about Lillian having few happy memories as a mortal child.
"Perhaps it would be best done in private," Pitch suggested as he glanced at the kids.
"Oh, right." Jack said with an awkward grin at them. He tucked the canister back in his hoodie pocket.
"Sooo.." Jamie said, drawing the word out. "..Now what?"
"Now?" North boomed out. "Now we make Jack Guardian!"
Jack's mouth fell open as he gazed at the Guardians in disbelief.
"What?!" he exclaimed.
"Yes!" North said happily. "Is time, no?"
"No!" Jack frowned at him. "You accused me of destroying Easter and turned your back on me when I needed you the most! Why would I join you?!"
The Guardians all looked at one another.
Whoops.
Lillian frowned at the Guardians as well.
"Jack and I belong with Pitch. He looks after us!" she told them for what felt like the millionth time.
"He's-!" Bunny started, then stopped.
He was going to say what he had said before.
He's using you.
But was he?
He remembered the softened look that Pitch had given them.
That wasn't the look of someone trying to manipulate.
It was a look of caring.
Bunny shook his head.
No, this was Pitch Black! Even if he wasn't gray anymore!
Jamie looked utterly bewildered as the spirits faced off.
"Aren't.. aren't you guys all on the same side?"
"Well.." Tooth started.
"It's a long story," Jack butted in.
He noticed that the kids were shivering and most were still in their pajamas.
"Why don't we get you guys home? There isn't going to be any more fighting now that Pitch is.. uh.. more or less normal."
Pitch frowned at that.
"Are you insinuating, Jack, that I am anything less than normal?"
Jack smirked at Pitch.
"Look in a mirror lately?"
Pitch rolled his eyes.
"Very well, return the children to their homes. Lillian and I will be waiting at home."
Lillian smiled up at Pitch at that. It had been a long time since she was home.
"No!" the Guardians all cried out, minus Sandy.
"No?" Pitch raised a non-existent eyebrow at them.
"Yeh can't go with him!" Bunny said, distressed. "He's Pitch Black!"
Lillian gave a very Pitch-like eye roll at that.
"Where do you think I lived for all those years? At Jack's lake?"
Their jaws dropped as Lillian took Pitch's hand.
"See you later, Jack!" Lillian called out as Pitch disappeared with her in the shadows.
Jack grinned at the kids as he ignored the Guardians.
"Who wants a ride?" he asked as he flew to the edge of the lake and started an ice path.
Jamie grinned at that as he hurried over.
"Me!"
No one noticed the gleaming yellow eyes watching them from the darkness of the forest as a Nightmare lightly stamped its foot.
The Guardians all watched sadly as Jack took off with the children, essentially ignoring them.
"This is all wrong!" Tooth said fretfully. "We all worked together to help Jack! He was supposed to join us! I thought he believed in us.."
North shook his head sadly.
"He believes in Sandy. He does not forgive our betrayal of his trust."
Bunny crossed his arms.
"I don't like the lass going off with Pitch. She's so young and easily influenced."
Sandy shook his finger at Bunny and reminded him that they didn't have the full story yet.
Bunny gave Sandy an exasperated look.
"They won't even speak ta us! How are we supposed ta get the story of what's been goin' on?!"
Sandy gave Bunny a smug smirk and pointed at himself.
Jamie was the last child to be dropped back off at home as Jack flew Jamie up to his room. They let themselves in through the window and Jack made sure Jamie was tucked into bed.
Jamie looked disappointed to see that Jack was leaving. He hadn't gotten to know the non-gray Jack very well, but Jack was starting to become his favorite spirit.
"Will I see you again?" Jamie asked Jack sadly.
Jack ruffled Jamie's hair.
"Of course! I couldn't abandon one of my first believers," Jack said with a smile.
Jamie perked up at that.
"Tomorrow?"
"It's a school day, isn't it?" Jack asked.
Jamie nodded sadly.
Jack's eyes sparkled with mischief.
"Maybe you'll get a snow day."
Jamie grinned happily at that.
"That's you?! Awesome!"
Pitch and Lillian stepped through the shadows and Pitch was startled to see all the cages hanging from the ceiling in the globe room, containing all of Tooth's fairies.
The broken cage still lay on the ground, the one Lillian had escaped from.
Lillian looked at the fairies sadly, not really remembering why they were there either.
Pitch placed his hands on his hips.
"What a mess," he said with a shake of his head. "It'll have to go."
By the time he and Lillian had finished freeing all the fairies and getting rid of the cages, Jack had just finished tucking Jamie back into bed and was heading back to Pitch's lair, as requested.
Lillian wiped her forehead as she helped Pitch toss the last cage into a forgotten storage room of some sort.
"Whew!"
The smile she directed at Pitch faltered when she heard the stamp of a hoof.
"What was that?" she asked nervously as she looked around.
They were in a part of the lair that was darker and not often used.
Pitch frowned at the noise.
It sounded familiar..
He shook his head.
"It was nothing," he said. "This place is old and has its noises."
It must have been his imagination, he decided. They were jumpy after everything that had happened.
..Whatever that was.
He was still very vague on the details.
"Let's go to your room," Pitch said as he took Lillian's hand and tugged her into a shadow.
They emerged from a shadow in the corner of Lillian's room, which was lit with a comforting warmth.
He stumbled as he nearly tripped on something and his jaw dropped as he looked around.
It was a mess.
He stared down at Lillian incredulously, and was surprised to see that she was surprised by mess.
Lillian had forgotten that she had left her room so horribly messy. She glanced up at Pitch who was staring at her as if she had suddenly become some person he didn't recognize, and blushed.
She remembered that she had let her room get messier and messier in an attempt to get Pitch to scold her for it, so he would pay attention to her again.
"Um.." she said hesitantly.
Pitch shook his head at her.
"You, young lady, are not leaving this room until it's spotless." he told her in a serious tone.
"But..!" Lillian exclaimed.
"No buts," Pitch said in his Adult Voice. "And you can forget about playing with Jack at his lake tomorrow. It'll take quite some time for you to clean this room, and until then, you're grounded."
Lillian pouted as Pitch left the room to go investigate the rest of the lair, but inside she was secretly glowing.
Pitch cared again!
Author's Note: So you know I didn't forget the memories. But because of everything that happened, Jack hasn't gotten around to viewing them and realizing he's Guardian material after all. In the movie they never really addressed the Guardians and Jack resolving their differences. Bunny forgave Jack in the movie when Jack helped Jamie believe, and Jack apparently forgave the Guardians, even though they were pretty horrible to him. But this fic went down differently. The Guardians got the kids to believe all by themselves, Jack was evil most of the time and nothing got resolved, so of course Jack isn't going to just join them right away.
So now we're into after the movie. I hinted around that all is not quite so peaceful yet (remember in the movie that there were some Nightmares still around and the kids hadn't gotten all of them).
Pitch hasn't been defeated as there didn't need to be an epic fight scene, since Manny helped out instead. :) Pitch, Jack and Lillian all get to be a happy family again and things have kind of gone back to where they were before Pitch started going evil. I decided that Pitch will keep all his powers over nightmares and shadows, but since he no longer is being influenced by the Nightmares at all, he might not have the same need to be in the darkness all the time.
Go to the light Pitch! Go on! You can do it!
Hehe.
The Guardians all have some major apologizing to do and it'll take some time before Jack considers joining them.. So the next few chapters will alternate between plotting Guardians, and happy family scenes with Pitch before they realize that they kinda forgot about something and need to fix it before it gets out of hand..
If you guys have any mushy/happy/silly/whatever family scenes you'd like to see with your favorite spirits, now's the chance to suggest them! I'll probably post the next chapter after the holidays sometime, so you'll have time to suggest things.
Oh, and about Pitch's memory.. Jack and Lillian don't remember what happened when they were under the influence of the Nightmare sand, and so Pitch doesn't either. But Pitch was under the influence for hundreds of years. It was only lately that the Nightmares were effecting him more and making him more evil. It makes sense if you're going by the books, I suppose.. but.. not.. kinda really.. if you go only by the movie? Eh. Well! So Pitch's memories are all really vague, except for the ones with Jack and Lillian, since those were the times he was the least influenced and was more good. Bet I had you worried there for a minute in the beginning though!
