Gah, sorry for being so late! I had a burst of homework and tests that came at me out of nowhere. I'm not even kidding; it was one project and test after the other. Sorry for the delay, but the chapter is here now, so the story can commence!

I DO NOT own Rise of the Guardians.

Chapter 12 – Asking Questions


Jack could feel his heart clench as he heard his staff fall onto the floor. This was a dangerous move that he was pulling. Should anything go wrong, he would not have his staff to help channel his powers like he had for so many years already. He would not know how to defend himself besides the few useless punches and kicks against the seemingly thousand Nightmares. If the fear machines ever decided to attack him, he would be done for.

Taking a deep breath, he looked at the Nightmares, who now stared back at him with surprised eyes. What was this? Was the Guardian…giving up? "Please, let me help." The boy said, his voice just above a whisper.

The dark horses looked at one another, unsure of what to do. Should they attack? Should they let him through? But after some heavy seconds of silence, one by one, they started to disperse, leaving a neat path for Jack to get to their King. Yes, it could very well be a bad choice, but what other things could they have done? Without human hands, they could not take care of the youngling. They wouldn't even know what to do to turn their master back to his normal tall and daunting figure without the help of someone else. And if they begin to just outright murder the only possibly chance they got for helping Pitch, then how were they going to survive?

The frost spirit looked down the path towards the struggling child. This was it. As he turned back to gather his weapon before he collected the child, a line of Nightmares had almost instantaneously appeared right in front of him, between him and his staff. Sure, they were only pawns of Pitch's fear plans, but they weren't stupid. Fine.

And so, a silent trade had been made. The Nightmares keep his staff while Jack takes their infant creator. That way, they would have to come back for one another at the end. The boy huffed as he walked down towards the child. Slowly, but carefully, he bent down and tucked his hands neatly underneath the bundle of robe and Pitch and delicately lifted them up.

With soft fingers and a curious expression, he put aside the pieces of cloth that were getting in the way of the child's breathing and eventually uncovered a teary eyed, sweaty, hiccupping and –most importantly- tiny little Boogeyman. Even Jack had to admit, his enemy as kid actually looked kind of cute. He immediately shook his head as soon as the thought came across his mind. No no, not now and not ever are you going to be thinking that ever again. He shivered.

While he was thinking, little Pitch had eventually become accustomed to his new surroundings. They were brighter than the dark robe on top of his head, so that was an instant plus. But something didn't feel right. It was weird. It was cold, it felt like two hands, and it was holding him up. The child tilted his field of sight to the side just a smidge and was almost instantly met with icy blue eyes that seemed to be scrutinizing him, and snowy white hair that flounced in the air as if it didn't need to follow the rules of gravity.

Who was this person? This icy dude seemed nice enough, but there was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that was telling him to not trust the dude. No, the ice man was a danger to him, an enemy…

…but no matter. Pitch was comfortable in his arms and that was all that needed to be fit in Pitch's "good list" criteria. Well, for the time being at least. Snuggling in closer to the frosted blue cotton sweater, he felt safe. Cold -although he didn't need to be warm in the first place- but safe.

The Nightmares were almost baffled, their eyes on the verge of popping right out of their sandy sockets. What is this companionship? What is this trust? What is going on!? Sure, they expected them to get along eventually but not so quickly!

Even Jack was surprised. He laughed nervously as he looked at the other horses' faces. "Heh heh, must've somehow known that I'm a protector of kids…?"

None of them bought the argument.

And so, Jack sighed as slowly made his way out of the cave.

The Nightmares were suddenly high alert. It looked as if this Guardian was kidnapping their master! How dare he! Almost immediately, they all stormed in front of the boy, effectively stopping him in his tracks.

"Don't worry, you guys. I'm just going out to put him with Jamie. The rest of the Guardians are there too, so he won't be lonely." Jack smiled to himself. He really sounded as if he knew what the heck was going on. Good job… "I'm going to solve this on my own. That is…" An idea came to mind.

"Do any of you know why the Guardians and Pitch are all children except for me?"


Sophie and the Guardians bounced around the room as their laughter rang out and echoed against the walls of Jamie's room. Jamie quietly supervised on his bed with half lidded eyes. Next time I have a dream with Jack, I really hope that it won't be so troublesome.

Suddenly, footsteps. Footsteps on the stairs; climbing the stairs. A stepping pattern and sound that Jamie could never forget. Mom. "Jamie, are you okay?" Mom called with a tinge of worry in her voice. "You've been cooped up in your room for an awful long time now. And I just hear Sophie screaming from behind your doors. You haven't eaten anything all day!" Jamie felt his heart race as his mind turned into panic mode. If his mom saw him like this, with Sophie running around with imaginary friends and him just staring blankly into his wall, his mother would think that he's gone crazy! Jamie was wide awake now.

But before he could do anything about it, his bedroom door opened and his mom stepped in, eyebrows knitted with concern as her hand rested on the doorknob. Sophie continued to run around the room, seemingly oblivious to the new person entering into the room. Is she ever going to run out of energy?

"Sophie, honey, what are you doing?" Mom said loudly. "Stop running right this instant! You are causing a racket downstairs with your feet and I'm pretty sure that our neighbours down the street can hear you!" The little girl stopped in her tracks and stared at her mother, but not without her seemingly endless supply of smiles. "Mommy, look! Sandy!" She squealed as she excitedly pointed upwards at the sparkly Sandman. Jamie watched the scene unfold with wide eyes, not even daring to move as he was afraid it might draw attention to him. Because if his mom ever decided to ask him what was going on, he was going to have a hard time responding. What do I say? What do I do? Think think think…!

Mom visibly relaxed a little, her previously tense shoulders coming back down to their normal position. With a tired sigh and a tender smile, she said, "Oh is it, Sophie? I had no idea! But isn't it too early for the Sandman to be visiting us right now? It's still daytime!" Sophie vigorously shook her head in response. "No no! Sandy!" She said again, this time with more enthusiasm in her point. Mom dipped her head in a slow nod. "Okay okay, it's the Sandman. But it's time to get you out of Jamie's room." Then, as if in slow motion, her head turned towards Jamie.

"Jamie, what are you doing?" Jamie shook his head out of his previous trance. His eyes were wide and slightly red, and his hair was on the fritz. He looked as if he had gone crazy for a day. "What do you mean?" He asked anxiously, daring himself to look at his mother's confused eye. It was not a happy one.

"Jamie," she said as she stressed his name, "did you not sleep at all last night?"

"Oh no I slept, I slept."

"Then why do you look like such a wreck? I understand with Sophie screaming around your room might be a problem, but… didn't you say you were also working on homework?"

"Homework?"

"Yes…? When I called you down for breakfast, you said you had homework."

"Oh, that homework. Well you see…" Think think think!

Aha! I've got it! "Well you see, I was having a little break, and then Sophie just happened to barge in yelling about Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and Sandman!" Good job; pat on the back for later.

Mom raised an eyebrow, clearly saying that she really wasn't buying his argument. "Okay then… But did you sleep well last night? You really look awful."

Jamie laughed. "Not exactly…" He looked around the room and he could see the Guardians, who were now quiet, just watching the two converse with each other, as if this were an exciting movie. His mom and him had their full attention! Wow, that's weird; for even having them quiet for more than a minute.

"Was it a bad dream?"

"Yeah… It wasn't scary or anything, just really really frustrating is all." He said with a nod.

"Well, okay. Maybe you should sleep a little more, just to feel more well rested." She began to make her leave, taking Sophie's hand as she made her way to the door. The little girl almost immediately protested. She didn't want to leave her friends, especially Bunny! "No no!" She yelled, her voice going hoarse from screaming so much. "Bunny! Play with Bunny!"

Mom shook her head. "No, Sophie. We've got to give Jamie some time to sleep; and sleep needs quiet." After a few minutes of struggling, Jamie's little sister eventually gave up and let herself be hauled away by her mother. But before she left, she looked at Jamie. Even if Sophie could be quite the handful sometimes, Jamie smiled at her in spite of himself. Then he pointed at the silent Guardians, and then pointed at her. After, he quietly clapped his hands together, signifying that they would be together again soon. Sophie immediately brightened up, her bright smile returning to her face, as she began to skip alongside Mom.

Mom was confused, but let it go, passing the sudden change of mood off as a random thing toddlers do.

The boy smiled as the door quietly shut close. He looked at the Guardians, who now stared at him with wide eyes around the room.

"It's just you and me again now, friends."


I feel like I'm making these chapters too short and too slow. Like, the events in the story could go by faster if there wasn't so much work to do. So now I'm kind of stretching them in a way for some reason…? I dunno. I add too many details I feel. I have the idea for the next scene, but I was afraid if I were to add it in, the chapter would become too long. So now, this is what we got. Do you want the chapters to be longer? You can always tell me through the reviews, or if you really want, you can PM me (although I don't think that this kind of request would be necessary of a PM)

Anywho, again, I am so sorry for the delay! Jeez, two weeks… My ideal updating schedule is one chapter a week now, but as of late, there has been a sudden explosion of work and projects that were due out of nowhere. I even had to quickly finish a project in the school library at lunch without eating anything because I had to also quickly work on other things. Because of this, I am juggling so many things at the same time, and my time management skills aren't really the best soo… yeah. That might explain a lot.

I will try my best to update again next Saturday though, and make sure it comes on time this time!

And now, for the Appreciation List (haha, like the new name? I thought of it just now…)

yazmin97

ChibiReads

A Yuugi x Yami

Baylee1100

lilyblaney – Wow, thank you! I'm glad you are still enjoying this so far. I guess you'll have to find out how Jamie is going to react to toddler Pitch in the next couple chapters though (especially at the pace I'm going at). Sorry for the wait! That's okay if you can't think of anything to say though (I am often quite tongue-tied myself), but make sure to get more sleep if you are tired! Sleep is good (I'm a hypocrite). Thanks for reading!

Rebecca Frost – Thank you! Sorry for the delay of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Nuzma11

Rachel420

Hope I didn't forget anyone… Don't forget, if you want me to make the chapters longer, just tell me and I will try my best to do just that (if school doesn't crush me first, that is).

And as always, thank you for all of your support, follows, favourites, and reviews! They mean a whole lot to me and always make me smile. :) . Room for improvement anywhere? I want to be better! Thanks! And please leave any suggestions in the reviews too! Who knows? Maybe I might just use them in the story! Also giving you credit, of course. Please review, favourite, and/or follow!

Thank you for reading and have a nice day!

Someone136