A/N: Thank you guys so much for your support! It helps so much! Enjoy!
It was so dark and cold. Joy compared it to when Derek had attacked her. That had been crushingly sad; it felt like there was no hope and no one around to help. This new cell that Joy was in wasn't quite like that. In here, the dark was oppressing. She felt constantly on edge; she felt she was surrounded, but couldn't see by what. Neither was a pleasant feeling.
I have to get out of here, she thought yet again. They had taken her bag of sugar when they threw her in here, so she couldn't just fly out. Joy stood up and began pacing along the walls, trying to get a feeling for the dark room. She knew the door was simply a hole in the ceiling (after all, that's where the Fearlings had dropped her through). As she returned to her original spot, the hole in the ceiling flew open. Instead of being flooded with light as one would expect, the room simply became less dark. A Nightmare came prancing into the room; Blackie! After her initial reaction to back away, Joy stepped over to the Nightmare and nuzzled him under the chin.
"Blackie, I've got to get out of here. I need to know what's going to happen in two weeks." Blackie tossed his head and whinnied a few times. As hard as she tried, Joy simply did not speak horse. Finally, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then opened them again. The Nightmare's emotions were surprisingly bright.
"Ok. Please say that again." If horses could sigh, this one would have. He began whinnying again. Above his head, thoughts the same color as his eyes began to take shape. A full moon quickly waned to less than a sliver and a golden sleigh flew in front of it.
A boy was there now looking up at the sleigh. He said something and the sleigh and what was left of the moon dissipated. A shadow stood behind the boy and soon engulfed the entire scene. Blackie stopped and looked to see her reaction.
What did this mean? Obviously something bad, something with Pitch and Christmas. But that boy, who was he? He seemed important. She didn't have more time to think on this as Blackie neighed a warning and then ran back through the door. Joy looked around wondering what could have caused the horse reaction. Then from the shadows stepped Pitch. She tried to back away, but her back met the stone wall. Once he was within two feet of her he leaned forward and said, "Boo!" Pitch flicked some dark sand in her eyes and then chuckled evilly as he backed into the shadows. Joy tried to rub it out of her eye, but sank to the floor as a coughing fit over took her. Then the nightmares came.
Jack and Sandy flew as fast as the could away from Pitch's lair. A few miles out, they finally came to a stop.
"We've got to rescue Joy!" Jack cried, looking pleadingly at Sandy. Sandy shook his head and made pictures of the Guardians.
"But-" Jack protested and was cut off with a look from Sandy. "Fine. What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Jack shot off towards the north with Sandy struggling to keep up. He finally managed to get in front of the fiesty frost spirit and put out both hands to stop him.
"Wh- Sandy! We don't have time for this!" Sandy silenced him with a finger to his lips. With a wave of his hand, the dream spirit conjured up three paper airplanes and sent them off in different directions. A clock appeared above his head and he sat down with arms crossed.
"Did you just summon the others?" Jack questioned, trying to piece it together over his impatience. Sandy simply nodded. Jack slowly floated down and sat next to his friend. They were near the edge of the woods and the sun was just starting to set. Within minutes, Sandy was asleep. Jack glanced at his friend and chuckled. Of course Sandy would fall asleep at a time like this.
Wait, thought Jack. That means I'm unsupervised. I bet I could go and rescue Joy before anyone gets here. With one more glance at his sleeping friend, Jack stood up quietly and twirled his staff. As quick as he could, Jack launched himself into the air, headed toward Pitch's lair, when suddenly, he was stopped short. Something had grabbed onto his ankle and before Jack could figure out what was happening, he was flung to the ground. Jack groaned as he was slowly pulled back to his starting point where Sandy was waiting, golden whip in hand. Jack rolled onto his back to look at his fellow Guardian.
"I thought you were asleep," Jack stated. Sandy chuckled and waved a finger at him. Jack groaned again then hopped to his feet. He couldn't just wait for help to come! Joy was in trouble. He launched himself into a nearby tree, waited until Sandy was sleeping peacefully and then…
Got flung to the ground before he even had a chance to take off. Sandy reeled him back in and shook his head, knowing what he had to do. He just hoped the other Guardians wouldn't laugh too hard.
Eventually, the nightmares left, but they had done their work. When Joy woke up her once golden hair was now dark gray with a single blonde streak running through her left braid, but even that would soon be gone.
"Jack," she whispered softly. She had to find him. She had to get him to Pitch. A tiny voice piped up from the back of her mind, trying to kick it's way out, but to no avail. A hand slipped out of the shadows and grabbed Joy's arm, pulling her through the darkness. When they emerged, Pitch and Joy were standing in the throne room. Pitch grinned and asked her, "You know your mission?" Joy nodded numbly. "Tell me."
"Bring Jack back here." Pitch nodded.
"Good. Now go." Pitch sat back and watched as Joy took her leave. What he didn't see was the second dark shadow slip out after her.
"Shut it, Rabbit," Jack muttered murderously. The rabbit pulled himself together and stood up, only to double up with laughter again. Tooth was covering her mouth to hold in a giggle. North was laughing raucaously and Jack was fuming silently in the golden bird cage Sandy had made for him. Patches of ice decorated the bars and the nearby trees, testifying of Jack's attempts to escape.
"Come on Sandy. They're all here. Can you let me out now?" The Guardian looked mockingly ponderous for a moment before relenting and letting his young friend out.
"Great!" Jack yelled as he hit the ground. "Come on guys!"
"Not so fast Jack," North said. "Sandy gave us only the briefest details. Tell us what happened." Jack gave them a quick rundown of what had happened from the bridge to the cave. He skipped over Joy's past, knowing that she would probably want to tell it herself.
"So, the shiela's brother is working for Pitch? Man, talk about a mixed up family."
"How are we going to get in there without Pitch finding out? And if he does how are we going to beat him… and Despair?" Tooth asked.
"I thought we vere just going to storm the place," North threw out.
"I don't think we're prepared enough to go in there right now," Tooth voiced.
"What?" Jack yelled. "Joy is in there! We've got to do something! Pitch is planning something huge in the next two weeks."
"I think Tooth is right, Jack," Bunny said. "We need to make sure we can get rid of Pitch and Despair… for good." Jack grunted in frustration. North placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Come vith me Jack. I bet you have some tricks up your sleeve that vill give them a big surprise." Jack nodded his head grudgingly, but the sporadic snowflakes shooting out of his staff told everyone that he was not okay with it.
Everyone left, planning to meet at North's four days later and then take out Pitch. Jack tried to focus, tried to help North with preparations, but he couldn't focus. Finally, after causing the yetis who were helping them to rebel, North shook his head and turned to Jack.
"Jack, how about you just take a snow day? Go explore the pole." Before Jack could respond, a dark gray yeti picked him up and through him out the window. Jack didn't even bother to stop his fall and instead dove into a snowbank. He popped out of the snow (like a daisy), and began flying towards the Ice Caves, skimming the top of the snow. The frost spirit shot through the tunnels, twisting and turning before finally landing in a large, clear cavern. After a moment of collective silence, Jack let out a yell of frustration and began shooting ice everywhere. Ten minutes later, Jack collapsed on the floor breathing heavily. The room was now covered with ice protrusions, some beautiful and delicate, others dangerous and sharp.
"This is driving me crazy," he muttered. "I've got to help her."
"That was impressive," a voice whispered. Within seconds Jack was on his feet, staff pointed menacingly at a dark corner.
"Who are you?" Jack called.
"Someone who wants to help. Who, more importantly, needs your help." From the corner, stepped none other than Derek. His posture was casual, but his eyes were worried.
"You!" Jack yelled and shot a blast of ice at him. Derek leapt gracefully out of the way.
"Hey! Just, listen to what I have to say!" Jack slowly lowered his staff.
"Talk." Derek took a deep breath and began.
"Pitch has Joy. He-he sent Joy to find you. I'm not entirely sure what he has planned for the two of you, but it's not going to be good. You care about her and want to help her. So do I. None of the others are doing anything productive, so why don't we go and rescue her ourselves?" Jack was stunned into silence for a moment.
"But, you-you're the one who hurt her in the first place! Whatever you did to her, she almost died!"
"I know," Derek whispered. "I know. I've never regretted anything more, but now," He looked up and into Jack's eyes. "I just want to help my little sister."
If there was one thing Jack understood, it was that. He would've done anything to help his sister.
"Alright," he said. "How are we going to do it?"