Chapter 2.
When Jack flew to the North Pole he had the combination of his own powers and the elements to help increase the pace. He brought winter last night and now it was morning. Citizens were beginning to wake up from their slumber in Burgess. The sun was out and hadn't caused Jack's hard work to melt, but created a shimmering blanket complimenting it. Everything seemed normal, just a cold frosty winter day... until a portal of twinkling colours arose from mid air. With a yelp the guardian came tumbling out of the spiraling light and face planted into the snow.
"Well that could of gone better." He muffled into the snow. The portal vanished abaft him. Using his two hands to push himself up, Jack shook the snow out of his already white hair. Infront of him was a fence, and behind that fence lay the Bennett household. It would of taken him days to get here from the North Pole, thank god for magic snowglobes.
Thoughts buzzed inside of Jack. What if Jamie was in this deep slumber and couldn't be woken up? What if the other kid's were in comas? None of this made sense. Why now? There were no signs at all. Jack was positive he would of noticed something, even the smallest of changes.
Pale feet came into contact with the top of the old fence and in a swift motion Jack was on the other side. This time it was rather gracefull, unlike the plunder that just happened. Peering through the kitchen window, he saw there was no sign of someone groggily preparing breakfast or making coffee. The contents on the table were unouched and the place in general was silent. The guardian bit his lip, "Ok, there are two possible options. Either no one is awake yet, or their all under some weird coma." With the power of the wind, his body flew upwards. "Lets hope its the former."
The guardian planned on quietly entering Jamie's room by carefully opening the window and tip toeing in, dodging the littered toys and books on the ground. On second thought, that was pretty stupid since no one would be able to hear him. But this masterfull plan wasn't going to take place because of the most horrifying thing happening right before his eyes. "Hey you!" Shouted Jack, not caring if Jamie woke up but was more concerned for the boy's safety. A black shadow was lurching towards Jack's first believer who was sleeping innocently under the covers of his cozy blue duvet. It didn't seem to have legs as it was extending out the end of Jamie's bed. It turned around and the second its canary yellow eyes met Jack's blue ones, it snarled a sickle snarl and pounced.
Jack backed up from the shadow in a hurry trying to lure it away from his sleeping friend. He so wanted to beat crap out of... what ever it was. The black figure seemed mad at him for interupting whatever it was doing. It disintegrated into black sand and leeked out of the bedroom window causing Jack to gasp, was this Pitch? "Are you the one whos giving children the nightmares? Cause if you are knock it off!" The sand floated for a moment then materialized into its previous form. Now Jack could see it had legs and hands but this wasn't the boogey man, this was someone different. The floating figure screeched and bounded towards him.
Jack took a fighting stance as the figure charged. With a flick of his staff a flurry of hail was sent in the creatures' direction. It dodged but miniscule hail stones still managed to land in it's eyes. It shrieked an unholy shriek, something Jack had never heard before in his undead life. Clearly the thing was extremly peeved off and shook the pieces of hail out of its face. Waves of black sand escalated into the sky, all trying to grab hold of Jack. Yep. This guy was mad.
The guardian put on his bravest face and flew with all his might. He weaved his way around houses and onto the main street. Using the power of the black sand, the figure became one with the walls as a shadow. It sprinted after the guardian of fun as he soared into town, who made sure to take a complicated route involving lots of sharp twists and turns.
After a minute of flying, the spirit glanced behind him and noticed the shadow was gone. All that was there was a vacant street and two cars glazed in snow. Where was it? Flying upwards in a vertical line, he hummed in thought. "Where are you...?" He looked and spun around in the air waiting for a sign of movement in the empty town. The maze of buildings seemed desolated. Surveying the street with stern eyes, he spotted the black creature at a dead end looking confused as ever. Jack laughed. "Hey! There you are!"
The second the thing heard Jack's amused chortle, it snapped its head to the sky in his direction. Unfortunately for it, it had bad timing, for the second it looked up a snowball came flying it's way. Frozen snow was smeared across it's face. Releasing a growl, it wiped the frost off and looked up to see a snickering Jack. It blasted upwards leaving a ripple of sand where it stood.
"Woah!" The white haired teen backed up an inch just as the thing shot in the air. Before Jack could even attack, it grabbed his staff and snarled wickedly. It desperately tried to claw at his face but Jack kept his arms outward awkwardly, trying to keep the beast at bay. Now, he was slightly alarmed at the figures' snapping teeth that looked like they could take a chunk out of him then and there, but something else caught his eye. This thing wasn't black, but grey. Dark grey skin could be seen under the layer of black sand. It was way to similar to Pitch's skin tone, but it wasn't Pitch. So just who was this guy?
Another hand swipped at Jack's face and this time it didn't miss. The impact sent him flying, releasing his grip on his shepherds crook and plummeting to the ground. Jack could feel a stinging sensation in his left check. "Ughh..."
Snow. He was surrounded by snow. Jack was about to get up and blast this guy with a frickin tornado but black sand held him down. All of his struggling had no effect on the sand. Dammit what was he going to do without his saff? Blinking the black grains harshly out of his eyes, he shouted. "Get off me!" The shadow figure was above him now and Jack could get a clear look at it's face. It was merely a few inches infront of him, it could of attacked right there but why didn't it? Its yellow orbs were fixated on the guardian, its top lip curved upwards showing off its impressive teeth. Tooth would of loved them, they where as white as snow!
The black sand kept fizzing around his face as it inched closer. Jack's eyes narrowed... wait, those dots weren't sand, those were... freckles? This thing had freckles? They were speckled around it's eyes and button nose. And this thing had hair! Dark ebony hair swaying over its forehead. How come Jack didn't notice it before? This kid obviously reminded him of Pitch, but there was something else that uneased Jack. Something he felt like he should know but didn't. The fact that is was something important he was forgetting made him anxious.
Time stood still as they stared at eachother, into eachother in silence. Jack was breathing heavily, restricted by the shackles of black magic. It was the boy's move now. Jack waited for him to do something, anything, but he didn't. Instead he gaped attentively at the guardian. His face grew nearer towards Jack's, if that were possible, and Jack really thought this guy was going to finish him using those sharp edged teeth of his.
But he didn't.
Just like that, Jack was alone. The boy backed off and disinigrated into the ground. A second ago he would of been dead, end of his immortal life. No more bringing joy to children. No more Winter. No more nothing. He tighty cluctched his chest in an effort to control his rapidly beating heart. "That was to close... What even..." His head was tossed back as he left out a cold breath of air. "Fuck."
That thing, that boy. Who was he? What just happened? Seeing his face caused a memory to stir inside Jack. The most fustrating thing of all was that the memory was right there in his reach, he just had trouble grasping it. Nothing made sense at all.
After a moment of laying in the snow and trying to soak up the whole battle that just commenced, the guardian stood up with a huff. Ow oh yeah the stinging was back. He brought a hand to his face and examined the faint red liquid on his fingers. This was new. He never bled before. It was almost sort of nice, in a really weird and non creepy way. He took it as a sign that he was still somewhat human with a heart and a brain and emotions even though he was invisible to the world. No one said the life of a dead three hundred and eighteen year old guardian was gonna be easy and bleeding from a tiny cut was the most normal thing that has ever happened.
"Crap. Wheres my staff?" Forgetting the cut for a moment, he briskly searched for the precious shepherds crook to find it laying in the snow a few feet away. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he lost it.
Think Jack, important matters are at stake here. That weird mini Pitch triggered something in Jack. Telling the guardians what happened would be the most logical thing to do but instead, he took flight in the wind towards Jamie's house.
By the time the immortal arrived back at Jamie's, the previously opened window was closed and the bed was empty. The covers were tossed in a heap at one side, everything was still and un moving just as Jack had left it. (minus the weird shadow guy). With a drop of his brows and lips, the guardian floated downwards to the other side of the house. This time the sight in the kitchen relieved him. There at the kitchen table was Jamie's mother, reading the newspaper with a pipping cup of coffee and a slice of toast infront of her. To her left was Sophie, blonde hair wild as ever, munching on scrambled egg and giggling at the pet dog trying to jump up from under the table.
Jack sighed in relief. Those two,- er three where fine. Where was his friend Jamie? He had gotten to him in time and stopped that shadow guy from going near him, right? Taking another few seconds to make sure Jamie wasn't in the kitchen, he left the window and made his way to the wooden porch out back. It gently creaked underneath his bare feet. Had Jamie already left the house? Jack needed to be sure his friend was alright, so he peeped in through the window of the front door hopeing Jamie would be there. He was right! He was standing right there in his pyjamas clutching a phone to his ear. The phone was connected to a dial pad with a spiralling wire, so Jamie couldn't leave the hall for privacy, which was in some way good for Jake seeing as how he was particularly nosey today. But who could blame him? The kid almost got attacked by a shadow monster thing!
The little boy's back was turned, so Jack couldn't see his face. Jamie was rubbing his fingers together in one hand with worry. Listening carefully, Jack could make out a few words. "Claude I'm sorry. Dude! I can't hear you, what? Yeah I could get my mom to drop me up later if you want. Yeah I-" Jamie paced forward and his words were even more quiet. Leaning his forhead against the glass, Jack groaned and waited for the kid to finish up the call.
Which he did after like, what five minutes? Jack noticed he was frowning as he put the phone on the reciever. Jack knocked.
"Hey kiddo." Jamie looked up and grinned. "Jack!"
"Jamie, are you still on the phone with Claude?"
"Uhh.." Jamie padded to the front door in his slipers, silently patting a finger to his lips signalling for the guardian to be quiet. "Yeah Mom...can you drop me over to his house this afternoon?
Jack rolled his eyes. He didn't need to be quiet. "She can't see me, remember?" He walked past the younger one nonchalantly with his hands in his pocket and his staff held in the nook of his elbow. Jamie let out a whisper while he tried to close the door shut as quietly as he could. "Oh. Yeah."
"Yeah sure honey."
"Thanks Mom"
The two raced up the stairs and into the brunnette's bedroom. Peeking out of the doorway to make sure no one was there, Jamie shut his bedroom door. "Jack! You will not believe whats happening!" He turned to face the teen who was lying down on his bed, hands behind his neck as he sighed. "Try me kiddo."
"Somethings up. All my friends are getting really sick, like, really bad. Caleb and Pippa are in the hospital and I'm getting..." He took in a shaky breath. "... nightmares."
The guardian of fun shot up from his place on the comfy bed. "Thats the reason I wanted to see you actually. Whats up with the two in hospital?" Jamie took a step forward, his voice filled with worry. "There in comas Jack. Mom says someone gets into a coma after an accident...like they're asleep and can hear everything around them but they can't wake up. Claude rang me and he was crying like so hard. I don't know what to do. What if they never wake up?"
Something inside Jack broke at the sight of his first believer's face. It was pure fear. Fear for his friend's safety. He didn't like seeing any child like this. Heaving himself up off the bed, he crouched down on one knee infront of Jamie. "Listen... I know its really scary. But trust me, all the other guardians know about the nightmares and your friends being put under comas. Were gonna stop all this. Your friends are gonna be okay, okay?" The boy sniffed, "Okay."
Jack smiled, "Do you... remember when the nightmares started? Or when your friend was put into hospital?"
The brunnete ran a hand through his unruly hair and sat on his bed, the older one followed suit. "I started getting creepy nightmares about a week or two ago. Pippa was put into the hospital like, six days ago I think? I'm not aloud visit her, I don't know why though. And now the same thing happened to Caleb."
"Jamie." Said boy looked up at the teen who had a thoughtfull look on his face. "I'm not gonna let that happen to you or any of your friends anymore. You know that, right?" Jack ment every single word. This has gone far enough. That shadow guy from earlier obviously played a big part in this, he just needed to remember. And the help of teeth wouldn't sufice. "Yeah." Smiled Jamie, an honest true smile. "I know. Thanks Jack."
"No prob kiddo. Its what we do." He playfully ruffed the boys brown locks causing him to chuckle and wave his hands around. "H-Hey stop!"
"Oh! It was messy anyway!"
"Quit it!"
The guardian laughed as his little friend's displeasure. "All right, all right! Ohya, didn't you say you were going to visit Claude?" Jamie nodded. "That's not until later though. Whatcha wanna do till then?" Jack floated upwards in a lying position, forgetting all about the shadow figure and his identity. A million ideas came to his head and he couldn't help but smirk."Get dressed and meet me outside. We're gonna have snow day."
Yup that was chapter two. I actually enjoyed writing most of this. I have most of the plot in my head, just actually getting to the point is the hardest part. Ohya and that scene with the Jack and the shadow, I tried to make it seem like Hiccup's first encounter with Toothless? Bla. I'm still uneasy about how i'm going to portray the romancy part. Wish me luck!