I am so freakin sorry for making you guys wait so long for this update. In my defense it was my first week back go school so it has been a bit chaotic. I promise though the next few chapters will come quicker now that I've got a bunch of good ideas for where I want this story to go. If you guys have any ideas for the story please leave them here! Also thank you for the wonderful reviews and please keep reviewing, that is a great way to get me to update faster, as horrible as that might sound. XD
Oh and btw this chapter borrows ideas from the books, not the movie. So there you go.
Let me know what you guys think of this chapter. Enjoy!
Bunnymund stopped and waited for North, leaning his tribal tattooed shoulder against the cool wood of the wall beside him. He watched patiently as the Russian gently spoke to Sandy before pulling his head out from behind the door, closing it carefully. North glanced up at him and nodded, smiling softly before approaching him, "Bunny, walk with me please."
The Easter Spirit removed himself from the wall and walked along with North through the vast workshop. They made their way through various areas of the Pole checking on the yetis as they worked tirelessly to fix the damage Pitch's fearlings had done to it. Bunnymund merely followed the Guardian of Wonder, waiting as patiently as he could for the man to make his rounds.
As they walked through the workshop Bunny noticed that the elves had finally shown themselves again. They were skittering about all over the place, their belles jingling furiously as they ran around the workshop, trying to help the yetis in any way possible. The little guys were definitely good at hiding themselves, which was surprising considering they jingled with every movement. Their size was an advantage though; they were able to hide themselves away in the smallest of places. Bunnymund reckoned that's what they did when the Pitch and his fearlings showed up.
It was amazing to see how much progress the yetis were already making with the workshop, new wood was already being put into place, the floors that used to be decorated with broken glass and damaged toys was nearly clean. Bunnymund knew that the hairy giants were great craftsmen, but he didn't know they were also great repairmen.
When they finally reached the Grand Hall North walked straight towards where the damaged globe resided. It was far from fixed but the yetis and elves were hard at work at getting it back into working order, they would need that globe operational in order to keep an eye on the lights. They needed to know how much time they had left before they were forced to strike. North had a bad feeling that the children's suffering was already going to make the globe look much different when it finally started working again.
"Everything is coming along smoothly it seems. Well at least as smooth as it can get." North commented absently mindedly. Bunnymund's ears lowered slightly, he knows that North is still upset about the condition of the Pole. "Eh everything will be back the way it was in a jiff, those yetis of yours are bloody brilliant." Bunnymund said with as much confidence as he could muster. North let himself smile at the pooka's enthusiasm. "Come, let us find a place to sit." North said as he began walking towards the opposite end of the Grand Hall.
He stopped when they had reached the massive fireplace. It wasn't lit now; old partially burned wood sat in the grate. North took the initiative to change that, "one of you please light fireplace for friend and I, we have business to discuss." He called out to the working yetis. Instantly one of them went to retrieve the wood Father Christmas requested.
Meanwhile Bunnymund found himself glancing at the painting resting above the fireplace, it was truly magnificent, depicting a beautiful sunrise peaking behind large mountains. At the base of the mountains North and his yeti were elegantly depicted in harmony, large pines were painted beside them. Beyond the mountaintops rested the North Pole, the windows glowing orange with soft light.
He continued to immerse himself in its beauty when North brought him back to his senses. "Here friend sit in one of these chairs." The Easter spirit's eyes widened in surprise as he saw two large cushioned chairs sitting in front of the soon to be lit fireplace. "When did you?" the Easter Spirit asked.
"You were spacing out so I fetched them when you weren't looking. No big deal. Now sit."
The Guardian of Hope heeded the words of the Guardian of Wonder and plopped himself down upon the soft velvet cushion of the chair. He would be lying if he said he wasn't relieved at finally being able to rest after everything they had recently been through.
Bunnymund's ears twitched as he heard the sound of North settling himself into a chair as well. Promptly he narrowed his eyes at his fellow Guardian, waiting for the explanation of Pitch's power that he had promised to tell him.
A moment of silence passed when Bunnymund decided it was time to break it. "He's acting like he's lost his mind you know…" Bunny nearly growled, his ears flattening against his skull. "Sure the guy's always been a pain in the arse but he's been pretty much harmless up until now. Even when he attacked us last year…he wasn't this violent, this cold-blooded…what he did to Tooth, and especially what he did to Jack…" Bunnymund stopped as the image of Jack's bloody form and the feeling of Tooth's lifeless body flashed in his head.
North's dark blue eyes narrowed on the pooka as he spoke his mind about the spirit of Fear, waiting patiently for him to finish speaking his thoughts. Upon seeing the Easter Spirit stop talking, nearly shaking in his seat at the mention of Jack and Tooth, he decided it was his turn to speak.
"I know Bunny, I know. Pitch was always more restrained than this, he held himself to a standard. He was always an intelligent being, but his recent behavior doesn't line up. It looks like we have underestimated how desperate to be believed in he had become. When we took him down last year, that must have been breaking point..." North's gaze fell to the floor as he felt guilt pang in his heart at not trying harder to come to an understanding with the Nightmare King.
'Now look what this has led to…'
The flicker of a fire glowed in both of their peripheral vision as a white haired yeti set it alight, it garbled a few words before trudging off towards the globe, resuming its work.
"You may not believe this Bunny, but Pitch was not always Nightmare King." North said calmly, knowing that the pooka would be surprised. He was right in his assumption, instantly Bunny's ears went erect, his eyes fogged with confusion, clearly not knowing what North was talking about.
"MiM told me long ago, that is why I tried so hard back then to make Pitch become a Guardian, I really thought that maybe his old self would come through, even if he was spirit of fear…" North explained.
Bunnymund merely stared back at Father Christmas, his jaw hanging slightly in pure awe at the words that just registered in his mind. "I don't understand mate…I mean I knew that we all had a past before we were chosen as Guardians, but Pitch is older than any of us, and he's not a Guardian…You're really telling me that bastard was something else entirely at one point?" Bunnymund asked, his voice growing louder as the anger inside him swelled.
North put up a hand, silently telling the pooka to calm down. "Let me finish Bunny…"
The Easter spirit's ears lowered again as he sighed in defeat, signaling for North to continue.
"He used to be known as Kosmotis Pitchiner, back in Golden Age. He was a general, a well renowned one, a hero at that time." North explained.
Bunnymund visibly scoffed at the notion that Pitch Black was a hero, "that man is no hero, he's a bloody monster…" Bunny grumbled angrily.
North glared harshly in the pooka's direction, sending a signal for him to stop interrupting and let him speak. Bunnymund clamped his mouth shut, now sitting silently with a stern look on his face, waiting patiently for North to get to the point.
"He was assigned duty of guarding all horrors of the world…or as we like to call them, fearlings. As time went on he grew weary of that duty and started to long for his daughter."
As those words left the Russians lips Bunnymund found that he couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"What? You're saying he had a child? I don't get it…why then…why would he want to hurt children, when he had one of his own?"
Silence fell upon the two Guardians; all that could be heard were the distant garbles of the hard working yetis and the crackling of the fire beside them.
"Because Bunny…he does not remember her, nor his old life. He forgot long ago." North almost whispered, sorrow flowing through him from the knowledge of tragic fate that befell the man who now called himself the Nightmare King. Bunny's face had hardened in thought, thinking about everything that North had told him so far, "how? How did he forget something so important?"
The cushioned chair creaked slightly as North leaned forward, "The love of his daughter became his downfall… the fearlings impersonated her voice and lured him to door of their prison. They used his daughter against him to get him to open it. When he did…they nearly consumed his soul; he was completely transformed by them. From that moment onwards, he was the Nightmare King and all he lusted for was fear. The man he was before was destroyed that day…"
Bunnymund sat there with his arms tightly crossed against his chest, his back hunched against the back of the chair he rested in. His emerald eyes, now tinged with the orange of the fire, glaring at the ground. He didn't want to have sympathy for Pitch; he didn't deserve it. "So what's causing his power to spike, and the blood lust, what's happening to him?" Bunnymund asked genuinely.
North glared, "Pitch has always managed to stay in control of the fearlings that changed him into what he is now…He has always been intelligent, and held a piece of humanity in him."
"The last bit of his soul that wasn't consumed…" Bunny said as he began to connect the dots.
"Yes, but after his defeat over a year ago, I fear he is letting them take control instead, letting them give him power…I fear he did this in exchange for the rest of his soul." North breathed a heavy breath before continuing, "the more of his soul that is consumed by the fearlings the less humanity there will be in him, he will continue to lose his mind and lust for fear, and he will get it by any means possible…"
Bunnymund uncrossed his arms, now understanding why North was so worried, "Let me see if I understand this correctly, he's giving himself up in order to get the full power of the fearlings? That he's not only going to be more powerful than he's ever been, but he's going to be controlled by all the horrors of the world themselves? He's that desperate?"
North glanced up at the pooka before nodding in affirmation. "Yes, and I believe that he knew what his fate would be if he made such a decision. Pitch is not fool, he knows exactly what he is doing…he just doesn't care anymore. He has stopped caring about consequences."
Bunnymund felt fear spike in stomach, "no wonder he wants to kill us all so badly, we preserve childhood innocence, protect them from feeling fear. And now it makes sense why he's been so bloody terrible to Jack. He's put that kid through absolute hell just to make him afraid. And then there's what he's done to Tooth, what he's now doing to the children of the world. It's a bloody mess…"
The two guardians sat quietly as the heaviness of the situation sank in, not only were they in danger, but the children of the world were in danger as well. Pitch was going to lust for fear more and more; his nightmares were going to become more violent. Perhaps their greatest fear was that once the children started believing in him that he would begin to hurt them more than just mentally.
Suddenly the pooka rose to his feet, his paws balled tightly into fists, "North, if you're right…we have no choice now…we have to kill him."
North's eyes narrowed on the Guardian of Hope, before he too rose to his feet, "I know…"