I'm so sorry! I know its been a long time. Just been busy and then I had a nice writer's block for a while. I feel awful for taking so long. I know I hate when I like a story and it takes a long time to update. so again sorry! thanks to everyone for keeping up with it and reading and reviewing it! it means so much! I promise to try and update more. Plus I am thinking about doing a one-shot series and I would love ideas and prompts. I'm sure they would inspire me more!
I do not own RotG.
Chapter 8:
"Any idea on how many?" asked Bunny, "And is Pitch with them?"
"Must be a lot if they are able to shake the workshop and Phil didn't see him," said North.
"What do they want?" asked Tooth.
Bunny's eyes flashed to Jack. His face was flushed, which made Bunny wonder if his fever returned. Any energy he had while talking to them seemed to drain out of him the moment the pole shook. And there was something new in his eyes, something that Bunny had never truly seen in the boy's eyes before. Fear and panic. The answer to Tooth's question was obvious. They were here for Jack. Pitch wasn't done with him yet. But he was not going to lay another finger on him, not as long as he was alive. Bunny crouched down and placed his paw gently on Jack's arm. Jack slightly jumped at the contact.
"Jack," said Bunny softly, "I swear to ya, they are not going to get anywhere near ya. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. Okay?"
Jack was grateful and touched that Bunny wanted to protect him. But he couldn't sit here and watch them go risk their lives. Not for him. He didn't want them to get hurt.
"Let me help," Jack whispered.
"Frostbite, we both know that you can't. You can't even get out of that bed," said Bunny.
"I can't let you risk your lives for me," said Jack, trying to sit up, but his ribs protested to the movements and he let out an unwanted grunt.
"Jack, you are not going anywhere," said North, "You are in no shape to fight and you don't even have your staff."
"We can't leave him here unprotected though North," said Tooth.
"I will have Phil stand guard of his door. The rest of us need to go take care of these fearlings and Pitch if he is even out there," said North.
"But—,"
The workshop gave another violent shake.
"We need to go now!" yelled Bunny, standing up and running to the door.
The others quickly followed suit, North telling Phil to keep an eye on Jack. Jack watched helplessly as his friends leave him behind to sacrifice themselves. The door slammed behind them, leaving Jack alone.
"Finally, I thought they would never leave," came a whisper.
Jack jumped. He knew whose voice that was. After what happened recently, there was no way he would ever forget it.
Pitch's face emerged from the shadows. He looked weaker.
"Oh, don't worry Jack, I'm not actually there with you. Your guardians did a lot more damage to me than I anticipated. So I don't have enough strength to come and hurt you."
"What do you want? Haven't you tortured me enough?" asked Jack as forcefully as he could, but it came out weaker than he wanted to.
Pitch gave a soft laugh, "I'm afraid not Jack. I don't think you understand what you did to me. If it weren't for you, I would have defeated the guardians and would have been the most powerful being. The world would be in darkness and there would be so much fear. But you had to get in the way! Which I still cannot understand Jack. You, the neutral party. Why would you sides with the guardians? After what they did to you? They left you alone for 300 years, Jack."
"It doesn't matter," whispered Jack, "I forgave them."
"Now, now Jacky. Don't lie to me. You can't possibly forget the last 300 years. Like I told you before, you are still afraid of being alone. They left you alone now, Jack. And let me guess it was to protect you. But how are they protecting you, if they aren't here to protect you?"
Pitch stepped closer to Jack. And even though Jack knew he wasn't really there, he couldn't help but flinch. Every injury in his body began to burn. He didn't want to be, but he was afraid. Afraid that Pitch would hurt him more.
"You know I am right Jack. They don't care what happens to you. But I do Jack. I told you that I want you by my side and my offer still stands."
"No," said Jack forcefully.
No matter how afraid he was of Pitch, he would never join him. He was not going to be feared.
Pitch frowned, "Fine. I am no longer asking. Instead I am going to break you Jack Frost. Break you down until you are nothing. And when you are nothing, I will reassemble you and you will join me. So here is my gift Jack Frost."
"You can't hurt me Pitch. You said it yourself, you are not even here," said Jack.
"You're right. I'm not here. But my fearlings are," he said, his sly smile crossing his lips.
Any color that had returned to Jack, quickly drained. His eyes flashed to his broken staff. He couldn't protect himself.
"I am quite surprised that you are still alive. I thought that breaking the staff would have killed you for sure, since you were weakened. Maybe next time I will try something different."
The room shook and the door to his room slammed opened. A fearling in the shape of a wolf emerged. Its yellow eyes locked on Jack. Phil was nowhere to be seen.
"Ah, just what I was looking for. You know what to do," said Pitch, "See you soon, Frost."
Pitch slipped into the shadows.
Jack tried to reach for his staff but he was too slow. His body was in too much pain and the damage it was in wouldn't allow it. The fearling wolf pounced on Jack, pinning him down. Jack called out in pain. Its paws clinging into his skin, reopening Jack's wounds. He tried to find his voice and call for the guardians but the wolf's paw moved to his throat. Suddenly, Jack's body began burning. The wolf's paws covered his opened wounds and the nightmare sand that made up the creature was pouring into his wounds. Jack could feel the nightmare poisoning his blood stream. His whole body began to feel as if it were on fire. Jack tried to break free but the wolf pushed down harder.
Where are the guardians? He thought as tears sprang to his eyes. He could feel himself slipping. Could Pitch be right? Manny had told him to open up to the Guardians, to let them in, to trust them. But where were they when he needed them? Bunny promised he wouldn't let anything hurt him anymore…
SWOOSH!
A boomerang slashed the wolf, breaking its connection to Jack.
"Get off him!" yelled Bunny, throwing his second boomerang.
The boomerang slammed into the wolf and like all the fearlings they battled it exploded into a cloud of sand. Bunny rushed to Jack's side.
"Jack! Mate, are you alright?" asked Bunny,
"Bunny…" whispered Jack.
"It's alright Jack, its gone. Did it hurt you?"
Bunny could smell the blood seeping off of Jack. He saw the torn bandages and noticed the nightmare sand around the edges.
"Pitch…here…sand…" Jack's eyes closed. He was so tired.
"Frostbite! Stay awake! Please mate, ya gotta stay awake!"
Bunny shook him, Jack's eyes slowly opened, "Hurts…Kangaroo…"
"I know mate. We are going to fix ya up. I promise. It's going to be alright. Please just stay awake until Sandy gets here. " He grabbed the nearest cloth and started cleaning up his wounds. That's when he noticed larger amounts of black sand.
"Jack, the wolf, what did it do?"
Jack's eyes kept opening and closing. He was fighting the urge to pass out. His body was done. He couldn't take the pain anymore. The nightmare sand was inside his body, coaxing him to go to sleep.
"Sand…in me…Pitch…" he whispered, "Can't stay awake…"
Suddenly Bunny understood, "No! Jack don't go to sleep! SANDY!"
The rest of the guardians were finishing off the fearlings. When they had first went outside the entire workshop was surrounded. North had called the yetis to come fight. The battle seemed to be going well. They had gotten rid of most of them. That's when Bunny felt something was wrong. Pitch didn't show up and he couldn't help but feel like Jack was endanger. He called over to the others that he was going to check on Jack. North, Sandy, and Tooth continued to fight. They were getting tired and found themselves surrounded. Just when they thought it was over, the fearlings fled.
"What just happened?" asked Tooth, trying to catch her breath.
"I'm not sure," said North, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Phil burst outside the workshop door. His arms was bleeding and he had a huge bump on his head. He started yelling and gesturing with his hands to the workshop.
"What's he saying North?!" asked Tooth.
"Jack is in trouble. Bunny is yelling for Sandy! Come on! We must hurry!"
