Hey Everyone!
I know it's been a super long time since I last posted (and I only wrote you 2 chapters!? What's up with that!?), but I am sorry and will try to update a little more often. Started winter semester at school and the work has been piling up like crazy! I feel like I should be writing one of my 4 papers that's due within the next 2 weeks, but I figured I deserved a break (and that you deserved a third chapter). So enjoy, and I promise this story is NOT dead!
"Who's there?" Jack spun on his heel, staff pointing into darkness. He couldn't see anything other than the soft glow from the small, icy snowflakes that formed on the tip of his bonded weapon. He had hoped that the light from it was enough to show him any signs of danger from where he stood, but Jack began to panic as he heard unnerving noises and movements around him. His eyes darted feverishly around, waiting for something to smack into him at any moment.
"Jack?" He heard a familiar voice but couldn't quite place a face to it in his panicked state. He took in a shallow breath, beginning to feel himself tilt off-balance. He felt a sharp pain go through him that made him cringe and drop the wood from his hands. The younger guardian yelped out as the staff hit his feet and dissipated into thousands of tiny glowing snowflakes. His staff was gone, yet he didn't bend down in a panic to try and piece the flakes back together. Jack began to feel feverishly warm as he watched the flakes melt into a pool of water, drying up at his feet at a rapid pace. He gasped as he heard his name being called again, "Jack!".
"N-n…" Jack tried to form a word, closing his eyes now and hunching over where he stood; he felt ill.
Jack's eyes darted open, glazed over and panic-stricken. "Good. You are awake now." The Russian accented Santa glanced down at him, removing a heavy ice pack from his head and a thermometer from the boy's dry mouth. When Jack seemed to register where he was, and who the bearded man above him was, he relaxed a little.
Jack Frost took in a shaky breath, unable to force his body to move in to a sitting position. "H- How… what happened?" He croaked, closing his eyes halfway again. He felt ill still but he wasn't sure if it was from a fever or from whatever 'pain relieving remedy' was shoved down his throat minutes before; he could smell what was left of the herbal concoction.
"There was a battle, and you were fighting… you were there, you should know!" North crossed his arms and plotted himself down on the chair beside the hospital-like bed. His eyes didn't meet Jack's, which worried the winter guardian a little.
Jack frowned. That was quite literally all he remembered. What he didn't remember was how he had gotten there, and in a hospital bed. He was about to open his mouth to speak again when he was cut off by another familiar voice.
"I… Think he wants to know how he got in that bed, mate." Bunnymund leaned against the wall in the far side of the room, completely out of Frost's view. Despite the fact that Jack couldn't see him, North noticed that the boy's body became a little less tense at the sound of the bunny's voice. "You were hit." Bunnymund continued, not moving an inch. "Pitch Black shot some sand at you, made it into a sharp dagger-like weapon, and managed to hit you. You fell." Bunnymund let out a slow breath, trying not to let the hitch in his throat show. "You nearly died."
The room was silent and Jack's expression seemed to ponder this as his eyes opened a little more to try and wake himself up. "But I'm not." He murmured, throat painfully dry. "Not dead, I mean."
"No." North murmured, getting up to get Jack a glass of water. "You were lucky."
"I didn't think we could…" Jack was beginning to feel dizzy now.
"At the hands of another spirit… we can." Bunnymund confirmed. He knew it was possible, but no spirit has ever tried to actually kill another.
Jack nodded a little, but a frown started to form on his face. "But… why do- do I feel s-so heavy?" His voice had started out as a whisper, fading into an agonizing breath as the numbness began to wear off.
The rabbit pushed himself away from the wall when he heard the strain in Jack's voice and made his way, hurriedly, to the bed.
"There is sand in your body." The Russian called from across the room, filling a glass from the sink. "Either we got the sand out, or you bleed to death." The brute of a man shrugged, walking over.
Bunnymund had stolen North's chair by the bed, watching the boy's facial expressions shift. "We will get it out, though." The bunny murmured, debating on whether or not he should reach out and touch him. Jack's veins looked ready to burst, and his tense body wasn't helping the situation. "Can you relax a little?" The rabbit frowned.
"What… what do you think?" Jack breathed, gasping as he felt a stabbing pain in his chest. He was beginning to feel warm again, like he did in the dark dream; he tried his best to level his breaths and force himself to ignore the pain.
"Come on, now, frostbite." Bunnymund hesitated but awkwardly placed his paw over the boy's cooler hand. "You'll hurt yourself." He felt the boy shudder.
Jack forced his head to move to the side, looking directly at Bunnymund. His eyes were glazed over with tears, small droplets of blood mixing with them. The small veins in his eyes were tainted black from the sand and it was clear that his vision was beginning to fade. "I'll… try."
Bunnymund swallowed hard at the sight of him, trying not to change his calmed expression for the other guardian's sake. North had mumbled something about getting Tooth and Sandy, but Bunny didn't quite pay attention. "You'll be ok, Jack." He muttered under his breath, moving his paw quickly off the other's hand when he heard the door burst open.
"Oh my gosh I was soo worried!" Tooth's high-pitched voice, along with loud and busy chatter from dozens of baby-teeth, filled the room. Bunnymund stood and moved away from the bed, noticing Jack try and force a smile for the woman. Clearly the winter spirit was trying not to worry the Tooth Fairy too much. "How are you feeling? Don't even answer that!" She flitted closer to the bed to get a better look at the injured. Her delicate hands touched his arm, looking closely at the bloody tear streaks lining his cheeks.
"I'm fine." Jack did his best to play it 'cool' around the winged woman, but his fake smile soon faded. "Yo-your wings?" He looked to the large, stone-like pieces sticking out of her back.
"It's nothing."
"No… it's something." Frost murmured, eyes fixated on them; he soon realized that they were black from Pitch's sand. "Why are they still-"
"Working on it." Tooth smiled down at him lovingly, cascading a warm hand down his cheek. "I was a little more worried about you…"
"Ya?" Jack raised a brow, knowing she must be in a lot of pain herself. If it was even half of what he was feeling, Jack wondered why the Tooth Fairy worried about him instead of herself.
A few flashy golden signs caught Tooth's attention and snapped her back to reality. She gave a half smile, cheeks a rosy red, and a wordless apology to the Sand Man before stepping back a little. Sandy lifted himself using his golden sand to hover slightly over Jack, studying the veins on his arms and the busted veins in his eyes. He formed a large sad face out of sand over his head.
"Aw, I'm ok Sandy…" Jack muttered half-heartedly, beginning to feel dizzy and weak again, missing the warmth of Tooth's hand on his cheek for some reason. "Tired now…"
Sandy shook his head and waved his hands in front of the winter boy a little frantically, urging him to stay awake for a little longer.
"Mmm, can't." His words slurred a little and his body began to relax as though no longer in pain. Sandy sighed and stepped down his sand-made staircase in defeat.
Bunnymund watched it all closely, a frown still holding on his face. Jack had given Tooth a fake smile and Sandy a half-assed excuse for being 'sleepy'. Why was Jack Frost being honest with him? He sighed and went back to the bedside, ignoring the glares from Tooth as he sat. "Sleep for a bit, then." He murmured, "We'll wake you up a little later to get you something to eat, ok frostbite?"
Jack mumbled a noise of what sounded like 'ok, kangaroo'. Bunnymund smiled a little at that and stood back up again in time to see North lay the untouched water on the table on the other side of the bed.
"Pitch is still out there." The normally 'jolly' man grumbled. "We can't just sit here… he will single us out."
Tooth also frowned, pressing her aching back against the wall in hopes that the pressure would help with the pain. "No offence, but I don't think the three of you will be able to do much." She murmured, glancing at Sandy, Bunnymund, and North.
"We will call in some others."
"Like who? You know Spring and Summer are currently in war with eachother, and Old Man Winter retired when Jack became Guardian…" Tooth sighed. "You can't just…"
"Fall." Bunnymund stared at her a little wide-eyed with hope. "There is still Fall."
Sandy nodded excitedly, beginning to form images of apples, flowers, and birds above his head. "And Mother Nature." Bunny smirked, saying what Sandy was thinking.
"What about Jack?" North grinned happily.
"Jack's…" Bunnymund frowned, about to motion to the unconscious boy before he realized who North was talking about. "Oh that Jack."
"Jack Lantern?" Tooth frowned at him. "You know he will probably join Pitch, right? He's not exactly a trustworthy spirit."
North shook his head, "Owes me a favour".
"Alright, see? We'll be just fine." Bunnymund nodded in a satisfied way. "You, Jack, and Sandy can just stay here until you're all healed up, and we'll deal with Pitch." Bunnymund glanced at the Santa who nodded in agreement.
"Fine, as long as those three agree to work with you." Tooth sighed, a frown still fixated on his porcelain-like face. "No need in getting yourself too beat up." She half-glared at Bunnymund when she said this, receiving the exact same look back.
Thanks again and please review and favourite this story! Comments really motivate me to write more ;).
I promise more soon~