"Pitch?!" squeaked Tooth, all five guardians assembled in the globe room. "He went after you again?!"
"Not me this time." Said Jack. "That little plan blew up in his face. No, he went after the kits. Joy was out with Aster, thank MiM."
"You must tell sooner or later." Said North.
"It doesn't matter." Said Aster. "None of it. All that matters is we love her. Pitch can suck an egg bomb, it's best she never knows about it."
"Pitch knew when Aster would be gone." Said Tooth. "He knew when it would just be Jack and the kids. But, what does he want with them?"
"Revenge against Jack?" wondered North. "Or Bunny."
"He only attacked me because I got in his way." Said Jack. "Whatever it is, he wanted the kids."
"But why them?" wondered Tooth. "Joy is the only one we KNOW has powers. Hunter's as talented as Bunny with a boomerang, but doesn't have enough strength yet to be a threat. The girls and Nick haven't shown anything at all yet."
"He said he was going to destroy their future with me." Shuddered Jack. "He was going to kill them." Aster rubbed his mate's shoulder comfortingly.
"You cannot kill an immortal." Said North reassuringly. "And Pitch not strong enough to kill. The power FAR out of reach."
"But they are still growing." Said Tooth. "They are not truly immortal yet. As much as I hate the idea, it may be possible. Jack might be at risk too. The fire almost did the job."
"What's important is that all of ya are safe, and we know Pitch is up to no good." Said Aster. "We can put the other spirits on red alert, and deal with him before he tries again. He'll be weak after this though. You'll all be safe for a while."
"But for how long?" asked Jack. "Aster, the burrow is in flames, and Pitch can get in the Warren! They are sitting ducks for him!" Aster sighed, running his paw though the fur on his head.
"We'll keep them safe." Said Tooth, sensing the winter spirit's frayed nerves and distress, Babytooth nuzzling his cheek affectionately. As they began to brainstorm for battle plans, Joy slid down to the floor, their words going through her head, her Father's anger. She had heard about Pitch before, the Bogeyman and of the war that brought her parents to speaking terms. But, what did that have to do with her? She had been born just a few days shy of six years after that. It was obvious they all knew, and judging by her Father's outburst she was not to be in the know. She hadn't missed the pained expression on her Mother's face, whether from the discussion of Pitch, his own injuries, or his wild imagination turning dark on him she didn't know. But, one thing was for certain. The only way she was going to find out was if she went looking herself. Suddenly she felt a paw on her knee. Hunter was crouched in front of her, forest green eyes full of thought.
"You heard all that?" she asked.
"Dad's not exactly QUIET." He snorted. "But don't worry about it. Whatever they're talking about probably isn't worth the thought."
"But what do I have to do with Pitch?!" she groaned. Though Hunter was a year younger, he had always been the most level headed in the family, lacking the hot tempers of their parents.
"I don't know." He said, shrugging. "But I think I know where we can find out." An impish grin spread across his features, eyes practically screaming with mischief. Joy smiled. Just because Hunter was more like their Father, in both appearance and nature, didn't mean he didn't have a soft spot, like their Mother, for raising some Hell.
And while he was an annoying stick in the mud, she knew he wouldn't just ignore something so clearly distressing his older sister, even if it meant breaking the biggest rule ever laid down by their parents, North, Tooth and Sandy;
Breaking into the Hall of Records.
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"Admit it, this is kinda fun!" whispered Joy as they slipped in the double doors, a bag of stolen dream sand effectively taking out the yeti guards.
"Lets just get this over with." Huffed Hunter, walking ahead through the hall with the glowing lamp. On a lone pedestal, surrounded by elegant statues of the guardians, sat a thick leather-bound book. Joy took a moment to admire the statues, lost in the craftsmanship. At the center was a ruby rendition of North, on his left a peacock stone image of Toothiana. On the right was a gold and bronze statue of Sandy. On opposites sides were her parents, her Father carved out of jade to the right, her Mother of shimmering light blue sapphire.
"Come on!" urged Hunter, pulling out a stepping stool from the side. The two perched atop it, looking down at the book as the enormity of what they were about to do reached them.
"Mom and Dad are gonna be SO pissed." She whispered, Hunter nodding.
"Not to mention Grandpa North." Gulped Hunter. "Auntie Tooth and Uncle Sandy aren't going to like this either…" Taking a deep breath, Joy touched the book.
"Nobody will tell me." She said. "Sorry Mom, Dad, but if I don't, you never will."
"What won't we do?" Both kits turned around to find their Mother, leaning on his staff, looking exceedingly angry, nails clicking on the wood of his staff. Hunter and Joy looked like a pair of deer caught in the headlights, unable to move, unable to speak. After a few moments, Jack let out a long sigh, rubbing his temples.
"You were eavesdropping again, weren't you?" he sighed. Guiltily Joy nodded. Jack turned to Hunter. "And you're just trying to help your sister, am I right?"
"Yes sir." Said Hunter quietly. To their surprise, Jack merely gave them a sad little smile.
"You need a guardian to open up that book." He said, floating up next to them.
"Are you going to-"
"No I'm NOT going to open this. I don't want North to ream me a new one either." Joy couldn't hide the sad look in her face, ears drooping. "I'm going to tell you, and whether Aster likes it or not you deserve to know. Now, out. I don't want to be around when Phil and Fred wake up. Just because I'm allowed in here doesn't mean they won't toss us into a snowdrift."
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Jack pulled the cord on Joy's bedside lamp, Joy and Hunter sitting on the mattress expectantly, like they did so many years ago waiting for a bedtime story.
"You want to know why you and Pitch have a connection, right?"
"Yes." Said Joy, nodding. "And why Dad got so angry. What did he do? You weren't together when he tried to make everyone stop believing!"
"Yeah." Said Hunter. "It doesn't make sense." Jack sat himself between them, a cool breeze blowing softly through their fur.
"Your Father and I, as you all know, have a history of…um…"
"Going at each other like starving rabid wolves?" snorted Joy.
"For arguments sake, he needs to lighten up, but we were never really on the best terms, even when I became a Guardian."
"Why?" asked Hunter.
"Well, you know about the blizzard of 68…" coughed Jack.
"And how you did it to get Dad's attention!" said Joy. "Because you liked him!"
"Then he got really mad and chased you halfway around the world!" said Hunter, grinning.
"And I did something that only made it worse." Said Jack. "When Pitch tried to take over the world. Back when I had no memory of who I was when I was alive. He tricked me by dangling my memories in front of me, and because of his taunting I wasn't there to protect the egglets. Because of me, Easter was ruined that year and all the children stopped believing. Your Father almost punched me, and honestly I would have deserved it. I flew off to Antarctica, and was about to toss the teeth into the ocean when Pitch showed up."
"What does this have to do with me?" asked Joy.
"I'm getting there." Said Jack. "As I was saying, Pitch showed up and asked me to join him. I almost said yes. He was so convincing, using my fears against me as we fought. While we fought, we created a huge sculpture of black sand and spiked ice, and I knew what would happen if I agreed. He said 'nothing goes better than cold and dark', and though I wanted nothing more than to know who I used to be, and have believers, I knew what he wanted. I didn't want to e feared. When I refused, he had me trade my staff for Babytooth. He threw both of us into a chasm, and snapped my staff in too. Babytooth showed me my memories, and I finally got the kick in the butt I needed to fight. The rest, you all know. But five years later, Pitch came back."
"But you beat him, right?" asked Hunter.
"I didn't." said Jack. "I had never seen whatever they were before, and no matter how hard I fought, they kept coming. Eventually hey took my staff, and managed to dig their claws in. After that, everything went black. When I finally woke up, I was held prisoner by Pitch, and he was forcing my power under his will."
"How?!" demanded Joy. "Why didn't you fight then?"
"First off, I was barely strong enough to sit up. Him pulling my powers weakened me a lot, especially without my staff." Explained Jack. "Second, he had infected me with a fearling, and that was draining me as well. And even if I was strong, I couldn't."
"Why not?" asked Hunter.
"Well, the first thing I noticed was shadowed barbs were poised over my stomach, and I had somehow managed to get fat." He chuckled. "But, it didn't feel like fat. But, it DEFINITELY felt like my Mother's stomach when she was pregnant with my little sister Rose, back when I was human. Of course, I started freaking out, even more so when Pitch flat out told me I was actually pregnant. Not exactly the first thing you want to hear coming out any type of coma. He told me it was his, and that slowly the fearling would turn it into a horrible monster, a true nightmare."
"What happened?!" exclaimed Joy. "Did it-"
"No." said Jack. "And you're jumping ahead. I knew it was dangerous, and that thanks to my inability to ward off Pitch, something that could destroy the guardians would be born. But, I couldn't bring myself to even TRY to end it. Even though all I had to do was try to run, and Pitch's shadows would kill the baby, I couldn't. Even if it would become a horrible monster, it was still mine, and a child. I couldn't and wouldn't do anything to hurt it. But, it turns out Pitch was lying. While I was under control of the Fearling, he found a loop hole to make his plan happen. The Moon made it impossible for any child of mine to be part of Pitch, so he had a nightmare sneak into the Warren and get a clip of fur from a completely unaware grumpy old Pooka."
"Fur?" started Hunter. "Why Dad's fur?"
"Because he could get DNA from it." said Jack. "While I could never have Pitch's child, there was still a way for me to bring a true nightmare into the world, and that way was to have me carry your Father's kit, and infect it with the fearling while it grew and developed. For months, I believed every lie he told me, and finally, just before Easter, your Aunt Tooth, Uncle Sandy, Grandpa North and Father broke out a full on assault on Pitch. Aster came after me first, and while forcing me to take a medicine to kill the fearling in both me and the kit, told me everything. Unfortunately, I wasn't really listening. The kit decided it was an excellent time to come in the middle of a battle field. So, you're Father got us out of the palace and away from Pitch, and the kit was born. We had no idea if the medicine had gotten to it yet."
"What next?" asked Joy, getting a suspicion as to where this was going.
"We had a beautiful baby girl, completely free from the fearling, with fluffy white fur and blue eyes." Said Jack. "The reason you have a connection to Pitch is because of him, you were born. He was going to use you as a weapon, and that fate was only narrowly avoided." Joy was silent, having curled in on herself. Jack ran his fingers through her fur soothingly, feeling her shake.
"So…Joy was going to be Nightmare?" said Hunter.
"Even if she turned out that way, we'd still love her." Said Jack. "What Pitch did was evil, but no matter his intentions I will never regret being caught by him. Because I got my little snow bunny out of it. Neither Aster or I could ever hope things had turned out differently. Even though you were born out of Pitch's revenge, we still love you as much as we love Hunter, Emma, Rose or Nick. You're our baby girl, and no matter what we will always love you more than life itself, got it?" Joy peeked up at er Mother, eyes watering. Jack told Hunter to go to his own room, and wisely Hunter left. As he shut the door he heard his sister's voice crack, loud sobs echoing from the room.
Meanwhile, in his hole under the bed, Pitch growled happily. He looked at the snowy white Pooka, Jack hugging his daughter tightly, trying to hug away the tears.
"Such delicious fear. So vulnerable, so WEAK." He snickered. He glanced at his army of nightmares. "I believe we may be able to kill two birds with one stone." The nightmares screeched, filling the air with shrill screams.