Hello my fellow Guardians! Please forgive me for being away for so long, a lot has been going on...
BUT... I'm here now! That's all that matters! So, in this chap, Vida comes face to face with Pitch Black! Now to warn you, the meeting is pretty short. I tried to think of a better way for them to meet without disturbing the flow of the chapter. But don't worry! Pitch and Vida will have their own moments as he tries to charm her ;)
TheDoctor'sAmazingCompanion: More Jack/Vida in this chapter. Not much, but a couple here and there. I'm excited to write future moments in future chapters!
Bunny: I encourage all my reviewers to read my other stories if they're interested :) Thank you so much for your compliment! It makes me feel successful!
srayt: the teeth collecting scene? I LOVE THAT SCENE TOO! :D
Enchanted Elf: I hope you're not too disappointed with the way I had Pitch notice Vida. I don't even think I like it, but I promise, more interaction between them will happen soon!
grapejuice101: Jack and Vida's crush on each other is my favorite to write! they're adorable!
Superfan44: There is one or two Jack/Vida moments in this chapter! Hope you like!
thehomiewhowrites: why thank you! :)
tamitai: thank you! hope you like this chappie!
rommm: Sorry it wasn't soon enough!
Chapter 6: Face to Face with the Nightmare King
Vida followed North as he busted through the doors, dressed in his normal red coat and black ushanka hat. The elves and yetis were all conglomerated in the ice cave and sleigh room. Something was going on at Tooth's place and she didn't show it, but Vida was excited about her first mission as a Guardian.
"North, hey! I told you, I'm not going with you guys." She heard Jack say throughout the commotion. "There is no way I'm getting into some rickety, old…"
Jack paused as he watched the yetis open a door. "…Sleigh."
The doors opened to reveal not an old, dilapidated sleigh like Jack was expecting, but a shiny red, updated one pulled by eight strong reindeer. They were jumping wildly and Jack moved away with a quick chuckle. He watched as Vida pet each of them on their noses
"Not quite what you expected huh Jack?" Vida asked with a chuckle as she watched Jack gawk at the bright red sleigh. Bunny and North stared at his facial expression as well.
"Okay, one ride but that's it."
"Everyone loves the sleigh." North muttered to himself. Vida hopped in the back and with a bump, realized she was shoulder-to-shoulder with Jack.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry."
"It's okay, there's plenty of room for the two of us." Jack scooted over to make room for Vida and she blushed as he put his arm behind her.
"Thanks," she said shyly.
"Bunny, what are you waiting for?" North asked, hopping in the front and grabbing the reins.
"I think my tunnels might be faster mate," Bunny said, nervously kicking his foot onto the side of the sleigh, "and um- and safer."
North scoffed, grabbing Bunny and putting him into the sleigh. "Get in! Buckle up!"
"Whoa whoa whoa, where're the bloody seatbelts?" Bunny panicked.
"Ha! That was just expression!" North bellowed.
"Aw, is the big bad Easter Bunny afraid of heights?" Vida teased.
"Don't start with me sheila." Bunny warned.
"Are we ready? Good, let's go!" North slashed the reins and the sleigh quickly began to move. Bunny's claws went deep into the side of the sleigh and Jack laughed at his nervous actions. The sleigh slid up the sides of the ice cavern and Vida excitedly raised her hands up in the air, as if she was on a large rollercoaster.
"Whoo!" She screamed. Sandy joined in with a big smile. "Yeah, that's it Sandy!"
Vida's excitement made Jack laugh as he watched her, the fun seen all over her face.
"I hope you like the loopy loops!" North yelled to them as the sleigh went up the sides to the top of the cavern.
"I hope you like carrot!" Bunny gagged. The sleigh finally exited the cavern, onto the wooden ramp and into the sky. As the sleigh rode higher into the sky, Jack moved from his seat and onto the back of the sleigh.
"Whoa," he said amazed, looking below. Bunny groaned trying to control his gagging.
"Hey Bunny, check out this view-whoa!" Jack fell out of the sleigh.
"Jack!" Vida exclaimed as Bunny panicked. The two looked over the side of the sleigh.
"Aw, you do care." Jack said, sitting at the foot of the sleigh. Vida sighed in relief and smiled.
"Oh rack off you bloody show pony!"
"Hold on everyone, I know a shortcut!" North said, reaching into his jacket.
"I knew I should've taken the tunnels!" Bunny exclaimed in fear.
North took out one of his snowglobes and shook it, whispering, "I say…Tooth Palace."
He threw the snowlobe into the air, creating a portal and transporting them to Southeast Asia, where Tooth's palace stayed. But as they transported, Vida's smile slowly faded as she noticed many dark figures flying towards the sleigh.
"What?" She heard North say. As the dark figures approached, Vida noticed that they took the shape of dark stallions. She ducked and dodged the horses as they hit the sleigh, almost hitting everyone in it. She glanced back into the air and gasped as she saw the baby tooth fairies being eaten and caged inside the stomach.
"They're taking the Tooth fairies!" Jack exclaimed, flying up and saved one before it was eaten. He returned down to his seat in the sleigh and uncovered Baby Tooth from his grasp.
"Hey little Baby Tooth, you okay?" the winter spirit asked. Baby Tooth squeaked with a smile as North continued to drive the sleigh into the palace.
"They're stealing the teeth!" Bunny said, a few gold containers of teeth, falling onto the floor of the sleigh. But that wasn't all that was on the ground; Vida noticed small patches of black sand in the creases of her dress.
Black sand? She thought curiously. As far as she knew, Sandy was the only one who controlled the power of sand. He alone gave her the knowledge on how to create her love dust from his sand.
"Here, take over!" North said, handing the reins to the sleigh to Jack. As Jack drove the sleigh, North began slashing through the dark stallions. Vida unwrapped her bow from around her, grabbed an arrow from the quiver on her back and shot it at a horse, deciding to help her friend.
"Jack look out!" As Jack pulled up the reins, the sleigh went crashing into a tower of the Palace and Vida was thrown out of the sleigh, falling on her side as she hit her head on one of the towers.
"Ow," she groaned.
"Hey, you okay?" Vida looked up and saw Jack with a concerned look, covering his handsome face, his hand reach out to help her. As she grabbed his hand, she felt a chill come over her, her warm hand covered by Jack's cold one. She got up from the floor and realized that she was now intimately close to Jack's face.
My, he has beautiful eyes, She thought with a sigh. She would stare into them forever if she could. A slight cough from Jack forced Vida to return to reality and she let go of his hand and quickly stepped away from him.
"Sorry. I'm fine, thanks Jack." The love spirit replied with a smile.
"Tooth! Are you alright?" The two young spirits looked up and saw Tooth flying around frantically.
"They took my fairies! And the teeth, all of them! Everything is gone, everything." She said sadly as she sat atop the tower they were on. Vida and Jack then turned to the squeaking tiny tooth fairy that flew off Jack's shoulder to Toothiana.
"Oh thank goodness, one of you is alright!"
"I have to say, this is very, very exciting." A dark sultry voice echoed. "The Big Four, all in one place."
Vida and the others held their weapons in defense, in search for the founder of the voice, but Vida had a bad feeling that she already knew who it belonged to.
"I'm a little starstruck." Vida glanced above and saw a figure dressed in dark robes with illuminating gold eyes. "Did you like my show on the globe North? Got you all together, didn't I?"
Vida heard North groan but never took her eyes of the smirking boogeyman.
"Pitch! You have got 30 seconds to return my fairies!" Tooth said as she tried to fly to him, but the quick nightmare disappeared into the darkness.
"Or what? You'll stick a quarter under my pillow?" Pitch teased as he reappeared on another tower.
"Why are you doing this?" North asked him.
"Maybe, I want you have: to be believed in." Vida was surprised by Pitch's answer. In that short answer, she felt a bit connected to him. After all, she, Jack and he all wanted the same thing. "Maybe, I'm tired of hiding under beds!"
"Maybe, that's where you belong!" Bunny shot back.
"Go suck an egg, rabbit." Pitch appeared under them before vanishing again.
"Hang on, is that…Jack Frost?"He chuckled maliciously. Vida and Jack scanned the palace closely to watch out for the boogeyman.
"Since when are you all so chummy?"
"We're not…" Vida heard Jack mutter. Her eyes turned to him in surprise. What would make him say that?
"Oh good," Vida and Jack turned around and saw Pitch standing feet away from them. "A neutral party; Then I'm gonna ignore you, but you must be used to that by now."
Vida turned to Jack who's face grew somber from Pitch's harsh words.
"And…who might you be?" Vida gasped as she heard the velvety voice of the Nightmare King right behind her. As she turned, she noticed that he seemed to scan her as she did him. She defensively drew out an arrow, prepared to shoot it at him if he tried anything.
"That's none of your concern." She said coldly.
Pitch chuckled. "You have fire, I like that. The Guardians have never mentioned you; tell me, why would they hide someone as beautiful as you?"
He was charming, Vida now realized, but under that charm was something deeply malicious.
"Leave her alone." Jack threatened.
"Pitch, you shadow-stinking ratbag, come here!" Bunny said as he tried to catch him. Pitch reappeared atop another tower. Tooth took one of Bunny's boomerangs, approaching Pitch to attack him, but before she could, a nightmare appeared out of the shadows, hissing at her.
"Whoa, easy girl, easy." Pitch told the nightmare stallion gently, chuckling to himself. As he pet the horse, Vida saw his hand, holding some black sand.
"Look familiar Sandman? Took me a while to perfect this little trick; turning dreams into nightmares."
So that's how he's gotten power, Vida thought.
"Oh don't be nervous, it only riles them up more. They smell fear, you know…"
"What fear? Of you? No one's been afraid of you since the Dark Ages!" Bunny sneered.
"Oh, the Dark Ages…everyone frightened, miserable, such happy times for me, oh the power I wielded. But then the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light. Lifting their hearts and giving them hope." The love spirit could hear the coldness of his voice as he talked about the past. She guessed that this was way before her time. "Meanwhile everyone wrote me off as just a bad dream. 'Oh there's nothing to be afraid of,' 'There's no such thing as the boogeyman!' Well that's all about to change."
All the Guardians began to glance around the palace, seeing the color of Tooth's tower chipping away. "Oh look, it's happening already."
"What is?" Jack asked
Tooth gasped, watching her belief being stripped away uncontrollably. "Children are waking up and realizing, the Tooth Fairy never came. It's such a little thing, but to a child…"
Vida sadly looked to her friend and saw Tooth's face doing the same.
"What's going on?" Jack asked again.
"They, they don't believe in me anymore." Toothiana told him.
"Didn't they tell you Jack? It's great being a Guardian, but there's a catch. If enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect, hope and dreams, it all goes away. And little by little, so do they. No Christmas, or Easter or little fairies that come in the night. There will be nothing but fear and darkness…and me. It's your turn not to be believed in." Pitch spoke darkly.
Vida glared intensely at him, vowing to herself that she would never let that happen to her friends or the children. Bunny threw his boomerangs at the Nightmare King, but he missed as Pitch began to ride off on the stallion as fast as he could. Everyone joined in, and Jack and Vida nodded to each other before jumping off together and helped chase after Pitch before he could get away. Quickly, Vida shot an arrow at Pitch and saw that it indeed hit his nightmare but not enough as he vanished back into the shadows. They all scanned around the castle, but grew weary with no sign of him anywhere.
"He's gone."
*LTHE*
Pitch fell out of the shadows and into his lair. She'd shot at him and his nightmare and actually hit him! Pitch smirked to himself. The unknown friend of the Guardians had potential. She was as fiery as she was beautiful. But just as he asked her, he asked himself: Why would the Guardians keep her hidden? He swore that he would find out soon, no matter what it took.
CHAPTER 6! So this chapter followed the movie ALOT but I'd like to know what you guys thought of it anyway! I know the Pitch/Vida encounter wasn't very good, but as you can see in the last bit, Pitch has become very interested in Vida. I hope you guys liked the small moments Vida had with Jack. A little bit of shy romance, but there will be more moments with Jack and Vida in the next chapter, maybe even one with Pitch ;)
A lot of people requested a sequel so now I must ponder and plan...
If you guys have any ideas on what you'd like to see in the sequel, please let me know! I'll gladly take suggestions!
REVIEW PLEASE!
-Nymartian