Chapter 26: The Fight To The End
"What?" Jack said.
Jack didn't know what he had just heard. A virus? What did that mean? Were they all the products of some mystery virus that had existed for around a thousand years? Was a virus responsible for the Vampire race? The Werewolf race as well? Jack stared at his girlfriend. Elsa was paler than usual. She looked quite ill as well, like she could throw up at any second. The folder was still clutched in her hand. Everyone was looking at her, every single one of them had an expression of confusion on their faces. Elsa, herself, was just as confused as the rest of them.
"Elsa," Jack said in a soft, calm voice. "What does that mean exactly?"
"It's all a virus," she just repeated.
"Do you mean a virus has caused the Vampires and Werewolves to exist?" asked Tooth.
Slowly Elsa nodded.
"What does that mean?" Jack repeated.
Elsa took a deep breath in. "There were these viruses that existed over a thousand years ago. One was found in bats and the other in wolves."
"Wolves?" Jack said.
"Bats?" Anton said.
"Yes," Elsa nodded. "The viruses caused both species to go deranged, rabid even. They went out of control and eventually lead to their deaths."
"Where do we come into the story?" Bunnymund asked.
"Patience," Elsa said. "I am coming to that." She took another breath in. "So these creatures, when they bit humans, the virus crossed over. Not a lot of species do this but some like HIV, AIDS, swine flu, bird flu, rabies, SARS and Ebola are some examples of cross species transmission to humans. This virus is the same. Pitch has dubbed it the Mutatio-A virus which is the virus from bats and Mutatio-B virus which is the virus from the wolves. Mutatio means transform in Latin and Pitch being a Latin scholar explains why he chose a Latin name for it."
"Elsa, you're going down a tangent," Jack said.
"Oh sorry, where was I?" Elsa quickly checked Pitch's notes. "Ah yes, cross transmission. So as I was saying, when this virus enters a human's bloodstream, it mutates. Both viruses used to come from the same virus which Pitch has named Mortus pitchnious before mutating into Mutatio-A and Mutatio-B."
"Did this Mortus pitchnious infect other animals?" Jack asked.
Elsa checked Pitch's notes. "Yes but they died out before they can mutate into their own individual viruses which is what happened with Mutatio-A and Mutatio-B."
"Did the original virus stick around?" Tooth asked.
"No," Elsa shook her head. "Since it causes death, it died out but it lived on in humans."
"So it mutated into a human strain," Tooth said.
"Yeah," Elsa said. "Pitch made a note of the mutation ability of Mutatio-A. He made notes that it was a 'genius' virus as the way to spread it was through venom which is injected into other humans through drinking blood –the virus causes an intense thirst for human blood." She shuddered slightly.
"So the reason we are who we are," Tooth said, "is because some virus?"
"Yeah," Elsa nodded slowly. "Pitch makes a note that the virus causes the body to transform into a form of the creature that the virus came from. Vampires are in incarnation of bats and Werewolves are incarnation of wolves – that part is obvious. He made extensive research about the Vampire transformation. Apparently the transformation's pain comes from the virus turning the cells of the body into more bat-like."
"So we're not supernatural creatures?" Bunnymund actually sounded disappointed. "Like the ones in stories?"
"No," Elsa, once again, shook her head. "We are born from a virus that allows us to be who we are. The virus is – dangerous. It didn't help that Pitch spread the Vampire virus all across Europe because he desired an army of Vampires at his beck and call."
"Does it have a cure?" Jack asked.
"No," Jack sensed a hint of sadness in Elsa's voice. He remembered that Elsa didn't want to be a Vampire. It was a curse to her rather than a blessing – which is how Pitch and some other Vampires saw it.
"So we're stuck like this," Tooth sighed. "Well I long accepted that. This makes no difference."
Jean hurried out of the library with Henri at her heels. They were off to see if they could locate Pitch. Jean was trying to think of something to get Pitch to stay where he was until Elsa and the others could get to him. She didn't like to be a flipper, a traitor but this is what she needed to do. Pitch was abusing his power. He could no longer lead the Vampire race. He needed to stop.
"Are you sure about this?" Henri said. "It's not too late to run. We can run to Spain and get on the next flight somewhere."
"I don't like to run," Jean said. "It's the coward's way. We need to fix this before it gets too late. If Pitch wins this, he will exert his power over everyone. He is spinning out of control. He needs to understand that he can't control the world."
"I understand," Henri said smoothly. "I just hope that it is not going to backfire on us. Pitch can get rather nasty when he has been crossed."
"Don't I know it," Jean whispered.
She had seen Pitch get mad on more than one occasion. Anyone one who had been branded as a traitor had felt the full extent of his wrath. No one got out alive. Countless Vampires lost their lives to that death trap sunray of his. Jean shuddered at the thought. She just hoped that she wouldn't be another tally.
"Do you think he will be in his study?" Jean asked Henri.
Henri shrugged. "I wouldn't have any clue."
Jean didn't like that answer. She and Henri pressed on. They hurried through the castle. Pitch's office was on the other side of the castle.
"Jean!" Alexi's voice rang out.
Jean felt her heart sank as she turned around to face Alexi. Alexi walked towards her with a puzzled look on his face.
"Hey Lex," she said.
"I thought you would be down in the armoury," he said.
"Message for Lord Black," she said. That was the first thing that came out of her mouth.
"Oh," Alexi looked a little worried. "Anything bad?"
"No," Jean shook her head. "Just an update on how the war is faring."
"Jolly good," Alexi looked heartened. "Should I wait for you?"
"No," Jean shook her head. "You go on ahead. I'll catch up."
"Bet I can kill more dogmen than you can," he smirked. "The same goes for you Henri."
"You're on Alexi," Henri grinned.
Alexi laughed before running off. Henri turned to Jean.
"Why didn't you tell him the truth?" he asked. "Alexi is like one of your closest friends."
"Alexi practically worships the ground that Pitch walks on," Jean muttered to Henri. "What do you think his reaction would be if we told him that we were plotting to take him down with the help of three traitorous Vampires – one who's wanted for association with a Werewolf, one of the worst crimes there is in the Vampire rulebook – and a group of Werewolves who are at the top of Pitch's list to be assassinated?"
"Good point," Henri said. "But he saw Harold get killed. He may understand."
"'May' being the key word," Jean said. "I think it's best not to risk it."
Henri smiled at his girlfriend but didn't say anything. It seemed to Jean that Henri agreed with her. Jean smiled back at him. If there was anyone she could have in her corner, it was him.
Henri followed Jean through the many corridors of Pitch's castle. Jean soon found Pitch's study's door. She took a deep breath in. She had never done something like this before; lying to a man she considered her mentor, her master. She was sure that Pitch would be able to tell, sense, what she was doing. Jean's hand hesitated as it reached out to the door so it could knock. What if this was the thing that was going to get her killed? What if Pitch was going to kill her in the same way he killed Harold? Henri was right; they could both walk away now. They didn't have to deal with any of this.
Jean glanced at Henri. He was looking at her with his arms folded. Jean took a deep breath in. If they walked away now, they would be cowers. What would happen if they didn't do something? Pitch could win this war. He could continue his reign of terror. Jean knew what she needed to do. Jean forced herself to knock on the door.
"Come in!" she heard Pitch's curt voice say.
Jean opened the door. She found Pitch standing by the window with his hands held behind his back. He didn't even look around when Jean and Henri entered the room.
"Despicable," Pitch murmured.
"Sorry sir?" Jean said as she stepped forward.
"I said that it's despicable," Pitch turned his head to face her. "These dogmen come in and try and take our home away from us." Pitch turned the rest of his body to fully face her. "But that is not going happen. We shall repel these forces."
"Yes sir," Jean said.
Pitch tilted his head. "Why aren't you down in the pits fighting?"
"Oh I was asked to deliver a message," Jean said.
Pitch took another step forward. "What's the message?"
"Oh it's more of an update," Jean said. She desperately tried to think of something she could say before Pitch got suspicious. She ended up saying the first thing to come out of her mouth. "The Vampire reinforcement army is down in the armoury as we speak. They are ready to go."
"Good," Pitch nodded. Jean relaxed. Her bluff seemed to have worked. "I want you and Henri to go down and lead them into the battle."
"Lead them?" Jean felt a little flattered – although she didn't want to. Being asked to lead the charge was as a great honour. It was almost being given a gold star.
"Yes," Pitch gave her a smile. "You deserve this honour. You're practically my number two."
"Thanks sir," Jean said.
"Now go!"
Jean nodded and she turned around to exit the room. Now what was she going to do? She had wanted to be in this place for the last several centuries and now she was. Could she betray this man after all? She had no idea if she could. She had no ties to Elsa or the Werewolves but she did have one to Anton. Anton was a man she could trust – in fact he was one of the few she did trust. So what was she going to do?
Jean's footsteps ended up taking her back to the library. She was about to betray her leader and put all her faith in someone who was labelled as a traitor. She gave a look at Henri who nodded. Jean took that as a 'yes' to go ahead with their initial plan. Despite Jean looking up to Pitch, she needed a man who deserved that who would earn her trust. Pitch was an abuser of power. He needed to be stopped. She kept repeating those words to herself so it would reaffirm why she was doing what she was doing.
Jean then entered the library. She was doing the right thing.
There was a deadly silence that engulfed the group after Elsa finished speaking. It seemed to be too much for anyone. Elsa's brain was going haywire. Was her Vampirism really the cause of a virus? Elsa's brain filled her with memories of when she was first transformed into a Vampire. She remembered the pain, the blood pounding and the feeling of death coursing through her. Elsa's eyes closed and she attempted to push those memories to the back of her mind. She didn't want to be reminded of those moments.
Her eyes glanced to Jack. He seemed to be just in shock as she was. Jack looked up and stared at her. Blue met red and there was a moment as they looked into each's other's eyes. There was a small moment of silence.
"So when is your friend going to come back?" Bunnymund suddenly said which broke the awkward silence.
"Bunny!" Tooth hissed at him. "Way to ruin the moment."
"What? Are we still hanged up on the fact that a virus created us?"
Tooth shook her head. "That doesn't bother you?"
"Not really," Bunnymund said. "I don't know why."
Tooth once again shook her head. "You are one crazy dude."
"Well, I do admit that it is a bit of a let-down that we aren't these supernatural creatures of legends."
No one could help it; everyone cracked up at Bunnymund's words. When the laugher died, the same silence came through the air. It felt awkward to Elsa. After the brief interruption from Bunnymund, no one knew what else to say. They were still all processing what they had just discovered.
"My question still wasn't answered," Bunnymund said, once again interrupting them.
"What question?" Tooth snapped.
"When his," Bunnymund nodded at Anton, "friend is going to come back."
"How shall I know?" Tooth through her hands up in defeat.
"We can trust her right?" Jack asked.
"Yeah," Anton said.
More moments of silence. Elsa didn't know how much more of the silence she could take. A brief moment of relief when someone changed the subject but then the reality of everything came back. Elsa's mind kept racing. Did a virus really cause everything?
The door to the library opened and Elsa's hairs stood on end. She and the others hid behind bookcases. Elsa was sure that if that was one of Pitch's men then Jean betrayed them, told them where to find them. Well, Elsa was prepared. She was prepared to do anything that she needed to do. Footsteps were echoing down the corridor. Elsa closed her eyes and listened to these footsteps. She counted that there were two different people. Could that be Henri and Jean? Or were they others? Elsa's eyes snapped open. She turned to look at Jack who was standing right next to her. Their eyes met again and they both nodded.
They both jumped out, ready to ambush whoever was coming down the corridors.
"What are you doing?" shrieked a familiar voice.
Elsa stopped in her tracks. "Jean? Henri?"
Sure enough, the two people coming down the corridor was none other than Jean and Henri. They looked shocked to see what Elsa, Jack and the others were up to and they were shocked to see Jean and Henri.
"Guess we surprised you," Jean said.
"We thought you were one of Pitch's patrols," Jack said.
"Fair enough," Jean shrugged. "But they don't often come in here. I don't know why though."
"Maybe they're allergic to books?" suggested Bunnymund which earned him a slap from Tooth.
"So," Elsa said, dragging the word out, "is Pitch in his study?"
"He is," Jean nodded.
"Let's go," Elsa said looking at Jack.
Jean watched Elsa and her companions leave the library. Neither Jean nor Henri accompanied them. Neither of them had the desire to go face Pitch after Elsa had a go at him. Jean saw them disappear through the doors of the library. There was a loud thud as the doors shut. That was the only sound in the air.
"What now?" Henri whispered.
"We leave," Jean said. "I don't want to be around if Elsa's plan fails."
"You think she will fail?"
Jean shrugged. "To be honest, I don't know. Pitch Black is a powerful Vampire. I don't know how well Elsa will stack up against him. She does have some companions but will they help? I don't know."
"Elsa is a powerful Vampire too Jean," Henri said. "Not all the best Vampires are in Pitch's Inner circle, although I am sure she was heading in that direction before Pitch discovered her little secret."
"True," Jean shrugged. "But if Pitch somehow gets the upper hand, I don't want to be around when that happens."
"Or what if Elsa needs us and we've deserted her?" Henri suggested.
Jean struggled with this for a moment. A guilty feeling was starting to creep up from her stomach.
"God damn you Henri," she said before they followed Elsa out the door.
Elsa snuck along the corridor towards Pitch's study. So far they hadn't encountered any Vampire. They were probably all outside fighting. Elsa decided to take a small peek out of a window. She could see the Werewolves crashing through the Vampire's defence. However the Vampires were putting up a good fight. She could see several groups of Vampires cornering Werewolves and managing to get one up on the Werewolves. Elsa looked up into the sky; the full moon had disappeared behind some clouds – for now anyway.
Elsa felt Jack's hand on her shoulder. He gestured with his hand, in a waving motion, for Elsa to continue. She nodded and followed him along the corridor. Finally they came to Pitch's study. Elsa took a deep breath in. This was it. She was finally going to get her revenge on the man who tried to kill her simply because she loved someone she wasn't supposed to – in his eyes anyway.
"Who are you?" Elsa turned around and saw several Vampires running towards them. They looked angry.
"Uh-oh," Elsa said.
"Go," Jack said. "We'll deal with this."
Elsa opened the door to Pitch's study and stepped into it.
Jack braced himself for the attack. A number of Vampires, Jack didn't waste time in counting them, came charging at them. Jack threw up his arm to defend himself from a blow. He then pushed a Vampire against a wall before dodging an attack from another Vampire. Jack looked over and saw that the other Guardians were in the middle of a fight. He could see Anton and Ragnar in a double battle against two other Vampires.
Jack's moment of lack of concentration cost him. He was then slammed to the ground by another Vampire. A smarmy looking Vampire was grinning over him. His arm was pinning him to the ground, jabbing into his throat, cutting off his oxygen supply. Jack started to splutter as he tried to fight off his attacker but for some reason he couldn't. Suddenly he saw his attacker's eyes bulged. Jack saw a knife protruding out of his chest, blood started to pour out his chest. Two pairs of hands were on his neck and then his attacker's head went sideways with a loud crack. Jack felt the pressure lift as his attacker felt to his left. Blood dripped onto Jack's shirt. Jack looked up and saw Jean and Henri standing above him. Jean was panting and she held a bloody knife.
"Thanks," Jack said.
"You're welcome," Jean panted.
Jean extended his hand out to Jack and he took it. She helped him to his feet.
"Shall we?" Jean asked.
"We shall," Jack said.
Jack turned around and saw more Vampires approaching. Guess they were in the trenches now. Jack needed to give Elsa enough time to finish Pitch off. He didn't know how much time she would need. He knew of Pitch's reputation. He was a good fighter. Jack didn't how well Elsa would fair against her. He had heard Bunnymund's and Tooth's stories about 'an annoying blonde Vampire' that always seemed to get in their way. Well if Jack knew Elsa, he knew her probably better than anyone – well maybe apart from her sister, Anna.
A Vampire came at him. Jack kicked him in the chest and he went flying into a wall. His head smashed against a painting of a ship. The Vampire collapsed onto the floor. That was one down, only a dozen more to go. Jack saw more Vampires come at him. Two of them did this rugby tackle and pin him to the ground again. What was with them and pinning him to the ground? Bunnymund roared as he raced over. He pushed the two Vampires off Jack which gave Jack time to roll over and get to his feet. Jack and Bunnymund engaged in a fight with the two Vampires. A fist fight occurred. Jack felt a fist against his face and they felt a fist against their face. Both Jack and Bunnymund managed to break their necks in time. They both panted for a moment before they high-fived each other.
"Good job," Bunnymund said to him.
"Right back at you," Jack said.
They continued to fight. It seemed that someone had gotten the word out that a group of Werewolves and some traitorous Vampires had gotten inside the castle and were attacking Pitch Black as Vampires just kept coming. Jack didn't know how much he could take. He didn't realise just how many Vampires there were in Pitch's castle as their seemed to be enough Vampires to deal with the attacking force outside and enough to deal with their assault here.
A Vampire came at Jack, swiping at him with a knife that glistened; it was coated with silver nitrate – a substance that was poisonous to Werewolves. Jack eyed the knife very carefully. He did not want to hit by that knife. The knife swopped through the air. Jack dodged them all before he tackled the Vampire to the ground. His head hit the ground with a loud thud. Jack got to his feet before he felt a stinging sensation in his shoulder. His head twisted to its side and he saw a long cut with some blood pouring out of it. Jack's heart sank very deeply.
The knife had gotten him.
Elsa entered Pitch's study, trying to block out the noise of the fight behind her. She could see Pitch standing by the window with his hands held behind his back. Elsa tiptoed forward. She was readying herself for a battle that was going to come.
"Hello Elsa," Pitch said and Elsa froze. Pitch turned around to face her. "I wondered when you would return to see me. I gather you are here to grovel at my feet."
"I would never grovel at anyone's feet," Elsa said firmly. "Let alone yours."
Pitch smirked. "Well I guess then there's only one thing left to do." Pitch lunged, almost flew, at her. Elsa didn't even have time to react. Pitch pinned her against the wall. His hand was crushing her neck. Elsa couldn't breathe, she could only splutter. "How perfect is this?" he whispered into her neck. "That I am the one to end your miserable existence on this forsaken planet?"
Elsa felt the pressure tightened. Elsa was not going to go out like this. For centuries she would have wished this. For centuries she would have wished to be reunited with her family and with Jack but now she had found Jack, she had a chance at happiness. Pitch was not going to take that from her. That thought, gave her strength. She kicked at Pitch's chest with caused him to fly off her. He landed on the ground. Elsa took a few moments to catch her breathe.
Pitch got to his feet and flew at Elsa again but she was ready. She caught his punch in her fist. She punched him in the stomach. Pitch doubled over and Elsa did a spinning kick which hit into his face. Pitch grinned as he licked some blood that had started to drip off a cut in his lip. Elsa didn't like the grin he was giving her.
"Impressive," he said. "But I am better."
He flew at them again. He then had her in a headlock. Elsa felt like he was going to rip her head off. The pressure was enormous. Elsa was trying to fight it but she didn't know how much longer she could hold on. Jack's face flashed into her brain. That gave her more strength; strength that she needed right now. Elsa somehow managed to throw Pitch off her using strength she didn't know she had. Pitch landed with a thud on the ground. Elsa rushed at him and placed her hands on his neck. This was the moment she was waiting for. Everything went in slow motion after that. Elsa didn't even know if she even registered everything that was going on around her. There was no sound suddenly in the air. Elsa allowed this moment to fill her; she trusted that she knew what to do next.
Elsa's hands twisted sideways. There was a loud cracking noise as Pitch's neck was snapped apart from his spine. Pitch fell down onto the floor.
He was dead.
A/N: So Pitch is finally dead! Yay! But what about Jack, eh? A bit of background into the virus as well. Not much further until this finished. Sorry I've been a bit AWOL, been procrastinating and to top it all of, I'm sick - so sorry if there are any mistakes. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Please review =)
Reviews:
heartfulyumi: Okay, so basically it is a virus causes them to turn into a Vampire/Werewolf instead of them being a supernatural creature. It doesn't matter if you take out the leader or not as each of them is infected with it. That's not how a virus works. Think of the Black Plague, each person infected with the plague has the ability to pass on the plague. Same thing applies here. If Pitch/Manny dies, they're not all going to die.
Lollipop3056: Thanks! I shall!
firepokemonfox: Thanks!
Kat-IlluminatedPurity: Great minds do think alike =) Yeah, I'm with on you on Pitch. Haha, I do it, sometimes whenever I rattle off a million ideas whenever it comes to a story on FF so instead of my stories being like 20 chapters, they go to like 40. Hmm, Pitch didn't walk into the library, you may have read those signals wrong. But something else does happen...
Tad12347: Thanks!
Jaehaerya Targaryen: Well not a single virus as explained this chapter, but essentially, yeah. You're going to have to wait and see on what happens next.