Inside the Globe room, after hearing North tell them that the Wonder in the world was fading rapidly, everyone looked surprised. "North, are… Are you sure?" Tooth asked hesitantly, but of course, the way he looked proved it all. The Russian man nodded, and everyone flinched a bit. "But, Valentine and I just visited you recently, and you looked fine." Jack explained, trying to figure out what he meant.
"I know, Jackson. Happened just today. I was working, and suddenly I felt weak, and realized Wonder had disappeared." The room was dead silent for the longest time ever it seemed, when Jack suddenly sighed, and said, "I think this has to do with Pitch."
Bunny let out a halfhearted laugh, and shook his head. "Pitch is gone mate." Jack shook his head, looking up now at Bunny, and back to North. "No. I was at the pond with Jamie and Sophie, when the ice under Sophie started to crack a-"
"Whoa, mate! Is the little ankle bitter alright?!" Bunny asked worriedly, and Jack nodded, which made the pooka sigh in relief, and Jack continued on, telling the other Guardians the encounter him and Valentine had with the Fearling. Somehow, all of the Guardians believed him, even if they didn't want to. The proof was North at the moment.
"But if Pitch is back and attacking, wouldn't we all be effected and not just North?" Tooth pointed out, and they all thought for a moment. Finally, Sandy waved his hand franticly, getting everyone's attention, and in pictures used from his dream sand above his head, told them what he thought through the pictures.
"A blockage? But how?" Bunny asked, crossing his arms and sighing seemingly annoyed. "You can't jus' block one thing…. Can you?" Everyone seemed to be thinking of how Pitch was able to pull this off. Wonder was blocked off, making North powerless, yet everything else was fine. Hope, Memories, Dreams and Fun were safe.
Bunny shook his head, and sighed. "You know what this means…" He said, his voice on edge, and everyone nodded. "Pitch has gained more power." Tooth said, and the Guardians all exchanged looks. Sandy turned to look at the little dots on the globe. It was true there was still belief, but there was something that was holding it back from giving North the power he needed. The little yellow man then turned to look at the moon out the hole in the roof, looking at it questioningly.
Jack went over to North, looking at him worried. "Will you be alright?" North nodded a bit and sighed. "Just not myself at moment." He smiled a bit, trying to make things seem like they were okay. "What you s'ppose we do then mate?" North shrugged and shook his head, but Jack jumped in, and said, "Since there are Fearlings out, maybe if we get rid of some of them, Wonder will be able to come back."
Everyone in the room was clearly thinking about this, but eventually nodded, agreeing with the idea. "North, you stay here and watch the yetis and just relax. We will all go take care of the Fearlings!" Tooth said optimistically, her violet eyes gleaming happily. Sandy smiled, and seemed to clap a bit without making noise. Bunny chuckled, saying how he wouldn't mind kicking some Fearlings back in their place. Jack turned back to North, smiling widely, and North smiled back at them all, feeling very grateful.
The white haired spirit left the room for a bit into the workshop, and asked the yetis were Valentine was, some replying with not knowing when one finally pointed to a nearby door, and entered in to see Valentine sitting on her legs on the floor, surrounded by the elves and smiling widely. She hadn't noticed Jack entering, and he just stood at the door for a bit, watching her laugh and talk to the elves.
That's when a little girl ran over to Valentine, hugging an elf in her arms and smiling. Jack broke out of his daze, and looked at the little girl, who had the blackest hair he'd ever seen. The girl then looked over at him, and pointed at him with her index finger and exclaimed, "Jack Frost!" while smiling widely. Valentine looked over, and seemed embarrassed for not noticing him. "Oh! Jack!" Valentine stood up and quickly walked over to him, laughing nervously. "Uh, sorry for bringing her here. Her name is Lina and I found her by the pond." The two turned to look at the little girl, still occupied with the elves, when Valentine added, "She doesn't know where she is from, so I'd figured you and the Guardians could help."
Jack nodded in understanding, and smiled once again, chuckling slightly. "Well, that'll have to wait, we need to go out." She looked at him, confused. "What? What do you mean?"
"Well, I can't explain it right now, but we have to go fight some Fearlings for a bit, so dealing with her will have to wait. Come on, I'll meet you back in the Globe Room with the others." Jack walked off back to the room, and Valentine went over to where she was sitting and grabbed her bow which she had placed on the floor. Probably wasn't the brightest idea, because who knew what would happen to her if it broke.
Lina grabbed her shirt, and looked at her with a confused look. "Where Cupid and Jack going?" She asked, and Valentine turned to her, thinking of a reply. "Uh, Jack and I need to go take care of something important, so I'll be back in a bit, okay?" The little girl nodded, and Valentine added, "You can stay in here and play with the elves, and maybe even Santa will come in here to play." Lina smiled brightly, and nodded, but didn't let go.
"Have you ever thought about joining fear?" Valentine flinched at the little girls sudden words, and noticed her eyes start to act weird. "W-what?" She asked, unsure of how to react. "Do you think Jack really likes you?"
She couldn't reply or move. The two questions swirled in her mind. Of course Jack liked her! …. Right? They were best friends after all, right? Valentine finally snapped out of it, standing up. Lina had returned to playing with the elves, and Valentine shook her head before leaving and closing the door behind her. Where had all that come from that little girl?
Oh well, they needed to worry about something else right now, and she hurried over to the Globe Room, where everyone else was waiting. "Sorry." She apologized, and Jack just told her not to worry about it. Tooth, Jack and Valentine flew out the window, and Sandy created a swirl of sand for both him and Bunny to stand on, knowing Bunny hated the cold snow that was down below them.
"Good luck, be careful!" North called after them, Tooth calling back, "We will!" before they took off into the sky, Jack cheering in joy as he glided on the wind. Valentine followed close behind him, the two in the lead. "Where are we going first?" Bunny asked them all, and they finally agreed to check out Burgess first, since that is where Jack and Valentine had seen the first Fearling.
It was nighttime at Burgess, which was perfect. The Fearlings enjoyed the dark more than the light anyways, and preferred the shadows. The group checked every corner and ally, even some buildings, only finding a few in this town. "Aren't there supposed to be more?" Valentine asked, unsure since this was her first time ever encounting and fighting these things, and so far had failed to land a hit on any of them.
"Maybe we should spit up and cover more ground." Tooth chirped in, looking around just in case there were more around. Everyone agreed, but decided not to split up alone. Instead, they formed groups and agreed to meet at the pond if anything happened. Tooth and Sandy went in a group, and Jack, Bunny and Valentine went in another. The waved goodbye, and went separate ways.
An hour into hunting down the Fearlings, having only gotten a few, Jack and Bunny agreed to go check on Jamie and Sophie. Valentine didn't protest, and promised to keep it secret from Tooth and Sandy. The three made their way to the house, and Jack looked in the window to Jamie's bedroom, happy that he was still awake. He knocked on it with his staff, and Jamie looked up from the book he was reading and smiled, hurrying over to the window and opening it.
"Jack! Bunny!" He said happily, and the two went in, along with Valentine who of course was unseen by Jamie. "Hey, Jamie, I need to ask you and Sophie something important, think you can go and get her?" Jack asked, and the mortal nodded, leaving his room quietly as to not wake up his parents. Valentine looked around the young man's room, and laughed a bit. "Nice room."
"Give the guy a break, he loves adventure and myths!" Jack said, chuckling a bit, and Bunny rolled his eyes but couldn't help but laugh a bit as well. Valentine walked over to the table in his room and sat on it, to keep out of the way even though she was unseen. The feeling Spirits got when they were walked though was very unpleasant, and tried avoiding it as much as possible.
Just a few moments after he left, Jamie returned with a rather sleepy Sophie, but instantly became awake when she saw Bunnymund. "Bunny!" She exclaimed happily but low enough to not be heard by her parents if they were to wake up, and ran over to him, hugging him tightly. He returned the hug, and chuckled a bit. "Nice to see ya again, ya little ankle bitter." Bunny and Sophie both sat down on Jamie's bed, while Jack remained standing and Jamie leaned on the wall. "So, what's so important?" He asked the immortals, and Sophie looked at them, wondering as well what was going on.
Jack sighed, and ran his hands through his hair, wondering how he could explain this. "Well, North lost his powers…" He said, and Jamie flinched, looking at him with disbelief. "Wonder? What happened to it, I know it's not gone!" Jack nodded. "Exactly, it's not, but there is something blocking all the Wonder in the world, and we think…." He turned to Bunny, who sighed, and finished the sentence. "We think it migh' be Pitch Black."
Everything was silent for a while, when Sophie spoke up. "I thought he was gone though?" "That's what we thought too the first time, but we learned from our mistake. He plans on attacking again, and is somehow blocking Wonder." Bunny explained to Sophie, while Jack turned to Jamie, the two equally physically aged teens looking serious, one more confused than the other. "Jamie, have you noticed anything strange lately? Like, anything that has to do with the Fearlings?"
The brunette haired boy shook his head no, and Jack sighed in a bit of relief. "Let me know if you notice anything, alright?" Jamie nodded, but then instantly added, "But how?" "Just call my name and the wind will tell me that you need me, same with Sophie."
They talked, and Valentine watched, since that was all she could do. She looked towards the window, when a shadow quickly went past it. "Jack, I'll be right back." The girl said, and left before he could protest, taking flight out the window, and following were the shadow went cautiously. Once again, she saw it, and took after it, grabbing an arrow from the quiver behind her back, in case she needed to fight. It lead her a little ways away from the pond in the woods, where she saw some disturbed earth. The shadow took down on the earth, and Valentine hesitated.
Finally, she kicked at it hard, and only a bit of the top layer of soil fell down a hole, which looked very deep. "What's this?" She said to herself, looking down it. It seemed to have gone down forever, when she heard an echo come from inside. "That voice…. Why does it sound so familiar?" Valentine said, wondering why she heard a male voice. Carefully, she jumped into the hole and down to what seemed to be near the center of the earth.
It was a dark and cold and creepy place, with cages hanging from the ceiling and it looked worn from water. Valentine looked around, wondering where she was and walked around a bit.
"Well, took you long enough." A voice came from behind her, and she whipped around quickly, to see a very tall male standing a ways away from her, with black hair, very play grey skin and a coat that reminded her of a shadow. "Who are you?" She asked the male, who laughed a bit. "My name is Pitch Black, and I must give you my deepest gratitude my dear." He said, walking over to her. "P-Pitch?" She said, worry and fear now showing in her eyes.
"Relax my dear, I won't hurt you in any way. I just want to thank you."
"For what?
"For setting me free of course. With that blasted soil in the way of that hole, I couldn't get out, but you got rid of it for me."
"Y-your welcome then..?" Valentine was on edge, but didn't know what to do. Pitch chuckled a bit, and there was silence for a moment. "You don't need to fear me, Cupid. I won't harm you."
"F-fear? Fear you?" She tried her best to seem brave, but Pitch saw through the act. "I know everyone's fears. Yours and even Frost's."
"You don't know anything about me!"
"Oh really? You fear, is that Frost will abandon you, and you will be all alone. With no friends, and no believers, and you will just be alone for the rest of time."
Valentine flinched, and Pitch once again laughed. "You want to be believed in, don't you?"
She didn't answer, but the answer was clearly written on her face. "Let me show you something that will ease your mind a bit." He gestured her to come over, and she hesitantly did. Once close enough, he showed an image in his nightmare sand of Jack and Bunny at this moment, and with the help of a Fearling that was near them, was able to project sound this time.
The two were waving bye to Sophie and Jamie, and they walked on the streets a bit, looking around. "'Ey mate, where did Valentine run off to?" Bunny asked, his voice not sounding concerned at all. Jack simply shrugged and smirked. "I don't care really."
"How much longer are you going to pretend to be friends with her?"
"Hah, not much longer that's for sure! She's so weird and annoying." The two laughed, and the image disappeared, Valentine not moving because she felt like her heart had just broken in many pieces.
"I'm sorry dear." Pitch said, faking sympathy in his voice and looking sad. "You had to know sometime. Those Guardians are awful, and only care about themselves. Any other Spirits, well, they just don't really care about them. They are only pretending to be your friends out of pity."
She couldn't speak, and she didn't want to believe what she was just shown. Jack… He didn't really care about her. Even after all the two had been through, he thought she was annoying and weird..
Pitch put a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him. "If you join me dear, we can get them to regret saying such harmful things, and you will finally be believed in." Her eyes widened slightly at the thought of someone finally believing in her.
"In me…?"
"Yes! Of course my dear! We can make them all regret ever doubting you! We can spread fear to the whole world, and they will come crawling on their knees begging for forgiveness and mercy! Join me, and you will finally be believed in, and have as much power as you'd like."
Valentine was silent for a few moments, before looking down and shutting her eyes. "I… I want to go and confront them first. See if it is real. I'm sorry, I cannot take up your offer at the moment…
Pitch pretended to be heartbroken, but really, deep down he knew she would somehow come back, and agree to join. "My offer will still stand once you come back, just try not to get hurt by them too much. I owe much to you for setting me free dear." And with that, he disappeared in the shadows, leaving Valentine all alone.
Slowly, she flew out the way she came, and headed back for Jamie's, hoping they would still be there. A realization suddenly hit her. Valentine had set Pitch Black free. He was free! "Oh no!" She said, and quickly flew there as fast as she could.