Ashley snickered and smiled as she watched Zach attempt to strap her shield on his arm. After a few minutes of watching him try to get it on, she made a grabby motion with her hand towards the shield.
The young boy walked over and gave her a thankful smile as she tightened the shield on his arm so that it wouldn't slide off. When she was done, she pulled his head a little closer. "Make sure you don't really hurt him, okay? And be careful."
"What are you telling him?!" Jack demanded impatiently, and just a bit concernedly.
She rolled her eyes and looked over Zach's head at the winter spirit. "I'm telling him to aim for your nuts." Jack squeaked and covered his crotch.
"You'd better not!"
Zack blinked and pulled her head back down. "Wait," He whispered, "Really?"
Ashley paused and shot Jack a devious grin before nodding at the boy. It wasn't until Jack gave a horrified yelp did she laugh and shake her head. "No, baby, I'm just playing... Don't actually aim for his jewels. There might be someone out there dumb and crazy enough to like the delinquent like that..."
"I heard that!"
"You were supposed to!~" She sang before ruffling Zach's hair and lightly pushing him to the winter spirit. "Now, go get 'em! Attack!"
Zach gave a battle cry and charged forward, only to stop right in front of the teen. The two then began to deck it out in slo-mo. Nate scoffed from besides her.
"You're making that kid just like you... crazy." Alice turned with a glare on her face and opened her mouth to scold him, but Ashley spoke before she could.
"I know-I'm so proud." She pretended to sniffle and wipe a tear from her eye. "Isn't it beautiful?!" Alice gave a few strangled noises, looking between her and Nate, before finally shutting her mouth with a bewildered look on her face.
David snorted and gave a tired grin at the blonde woman before nudging Ashley and holding a Starbucks cup. "Here... I do believe you'd appreciate it, unlike these guys..."
Ashley gasped and gingerly took hold of the cup like it was the holy grail. She sniffed it, and a bright smile overcame her face. "Pumpkin Spice Latte..." She looked over at the man, still smiling, "You got me this...?"
He smiled and nodded. "Yep." He jumped up, having remembered something, and opened his briefcase and plopping something in her lap. "This, too."
She inhaled, trying to keep calm but kind of failing, and set the latte down. Then, she threw her arms around him, almost sobbing as she hugged him. "You even got me krimpets! I love you, Davey! You are a fantastic person!" David laughed and patted her head. "You have no idea how hard it's been, going this long without any form of coffee!"
"I can imagine," David chuckled, "And it sounds terrible... Lucky you have me around." She nodded in agreement, until a snowball hit her in the side of the head.
Ashley nodded to herself a bit before standing up. "I will murder you." She said simply, picking up her cup and gulping down half of it before putting it back down. She looked over at Bunnymund, who was a couple yards away. "You wanna help me?"
Bunnymund gave her a grin. "I'd like nothin' more, Ash..." He walked over and the two fist-bumped before turning to look at Jack, who had watched the two with a dumbfounded look.
"Are you two seriously ganging up on me?!"
Ashley nodded. "Yes. Yes we are."
He gaped at them for a second, before grabbing Zach and pulling him closer. "Fine! But I get dibs on Little Z! He's got your shield! And your trident!"
"Pssh, I don't need 'em," She scoffed. "I can kick your butt without them, easy."
Jack started to retort, but a low rumble of thunder that made the ground tremble sounded through the room. Zach's eyes suddenly got wide with terror, and he dropped the trident before running to Ashley with a yelp.
She raised a brow, but picked him up and let him bury his face into the crook of her shoulder without protest. "What's wrong, baby?"
"Sle-Sle-Sle-Slenderman!"
She was still a little confused, but decided to humor him. "Okay, what about him...?" She glanced behind her before turning back to Zach, only to double take and look back again. "Oh... I get it now," She chuckled, "Don't you worry about Slendy, he's one of the good guys. He helped me out... sorta... Well, not really, but... he's never hurt me. Physically." She faltered. "Well, come to think of it, he actually has, but... not intentionally..." She paused. "Well-"
"He's not gonna hurt ya, is what she's tryin' ta say." Bunnymund finished for her. She nodded.
"Yeah, what he said. He won't hurt you, unless it's over my cold, lifeless body. Which isn't likely... so chill. It's all good, I promise." The boy gave her an uncertain look, so she smiled and winked at the boy. "I'll always protect you... So, don't you worry your little butt, okay?"
"Okay..."
She grinned and nodded before putting him down and turning to Slendy, who was watching her with his head cocked to the side. "So, what's up, Slendy?"
If he had a face, it would have turned grim. "You all must go back to the battlefield. Now."
Everyone jumped up and started to scramble to get where they needed to be. Time seemed to slow down as everyone ran by, and Zach grabbed Ashley's arm just as she was about to join them. She looked down at the boy, whose face was twisted with worry and fear, and kneeled down.
"Ashley, please be careful..." He begged weakly, "Try not to die...?"
She tried to give him an assuring smile, but she was pretty sure it came out as a grimace. "I'll try, Z... I'll try my damnedest." He wrapped his arms around his neck in a hug, and she lightly pressed her lips against his temple when she felt his shoulders start to tremble. "No matter what happens, babe, I love you. And I'll always look out for you... Things may turn out well for me, or maybe they won't... but I promise it will for you. I know you're scared-I am, too, but we need to be brave little man... It'll be okay."
He pulled back a bit and rested his forehead against hers. His eyes watered, because the words she said sounded too much like a goodbye... But he still nodded as she cupped his face with her warm hands, and kissed his forehead. "I love you, too, Ashley... And... and I'm proud, that you're my sister."
She beamed and gave him one more quick hug before standing up and tightening the backpack strap that ran across her torso, and slid her shield off of his arm. Jogging over to her trident, she picked it up and gave him a small, two-fingered salute before running off with the others.
Zach stood besides one of the smaller yetis that Ashley called 'Fitz', and looked up into his furry face. "That's my sister." He told him proudly, trying to smile. "And she's gonna kick the bad guys butts."
They had a plan.
And it was a very good plan, at that.
They were all going to stay just above the clouds, just out of sight and silent. And then, they would all break through the clouds and surprise the fearlings.
It was a good plan... But, as the sleigh drew closer to that damn field, with the tall golden grasses that swayed in the wind and the faint whisper of wind that, at times, Ashley swore sounded like people murmuring to each other-she just got madder and madder. She didn't exactly know why, nor did she care to. And as the sleigh flew through the thick clouds, she could almost see the nightmares below... And that was when she decided that stealth was for squares, and jumped over the side of the sleigh.
The girl shifted into a bear mid-air, and roared as she neared the ground, crashing into a particularly unlucky nightmare, claws first.
All the nightmares froze and gaped at the great white bear, who gave them a furry smirk. There must have been thousands... but was she scared? Not even a little. "I came to here to smoke cigarettes and kill you all." She rumbled, despite the fact that no one could understand her, before roaring furiously. "And I'm all out of cigarettes!"
She tore into the circle of fearlings faster than they could react, until around five remained. The creatures stared, fear swimming in their glowing eyes, and she snorted as she rose from the grass, fur shedding and trident in hand..
"I lied," She admitted. "I still have plenty of cigarettes... But I'm still going to kill each and every one of you." A dark form shot through the clouds and landed roughly next to her.
"Ya smoke?!" Bunnymund roared in fury, "Ya bloody bastard, that crap'll kill ya-if I don't do it, first!" Oh, great... of all the people Ashley had wanted to know about her little habit, Bunnymund was the last...
Ashley tore her trident across a charging fearling's chest, and turned away as it burst into light. "Now isn't really the best time to discuss my bad habits, Bunny!"
"It's always time ta discuss my little ankle-biter's health, Ash!" The rabbit retorted angrily, throwing a boomerang into a nightmare and catching it as it flew back. "Since when have ya ever smoked?!"
"Since I was eighteen, which, by the way, is the legal age-thank you very much!" She shot back before tackling a fearling to the ground and bashing it across the face with her shield, "You can scold me later, but right now we have things to kill! And I'm not little!"
Bunnymund didn't look very happy, but gave a curt nod, nonetheless. "Fine."
Gradually, one by one, everyone burst through the clouds and joined in on the fight. Was it as effective as the plan would have been?
Not even close.
But it worked, and that was all Ashley cared about. She had messed up the plan and she knew it, but thankfully things turned out okay, and she was certainly glad for it... She hadn't intended to mess up the plan, it just sort of happened... something about the fearlings smell or presence just made her angrier than hell, now.
Which was good. For her...
For the fearlings...?
Not so much.
Ashley lost track of how long she's been fighting the endless supply of nightmares, constantly having to put up with the damn screeching... So, when she finally paused for a second to catch her breath, she realized something. Something rather important...
The Guardians, spirits, and her seemed to have done nothing to lessen the sheer amount of fearlings. For every one they killed, two more came to replace it. And not only that, they were starting to get tired... They couldn't keep going like they were...
It killed some of her pride to admit it, but they were losing the fight, slowly but surely...
And then, the shit hit the fan.
Eros hollered Ashley's name, and she looked at him. The ginger pointed frantically behind her with horror in his eyes, and she looked, only to curse as her stomach flipped over and break into a sprint.
Someone was falling.
Should she have taken a moment to stop and think about who it was...? Yeah, but... Ashley's never been much of a thinker, just a doer.
And that's just what she did. She ran and threw her trident to the ground just before she got underneath the person, and leaped to catch them. The sudden weight made her slam to the ground, but hey, the person wasn't a splatter on the ground. So her aching shoulders and torso could go and screw themselves.
She looked down to see who she had got, only to roll her eyes. The person was holding an annoyingly familiar twig... Jack Frost. The stupid kid was gonna get himself killed one of these days. Aleksei landed heavily besides her, making the ground jump with a snort.
"Damn," She panted, "You're lucky I caught you... That could've been bad." She faltered, and looked closer at the teen. He looked... well, he looked like shit. What little color he had, had drained out of his face, and he looked exhausted. His eyes were dull as she told him, "Maybe you should take five, buddy..."
He breathed a laugh and shook his head. "That wouldn't do a thing..."
She raised a brow and sat up. "What are you-Holy shit!" She yelped, eyes widening. A black, wicked-looking arrow was sticking from his stomach, and a sick, black substance was slowly spreading from the wound. Ashley had been around enough to know that that was not blood. "What happened?! You know what-fuck that, I don't care. Don't you worry, babe, I'm gonna-I'm gonna fix you up!" As panicked as she was, Jack was laying there with an awfully calm look on his face... and that scared her.
The winter spirit shook his head, but she didn't pay him any mind. She grabbed the arrow and just as she started to pull, he let out a scream.
It was... it was pretty horrifying. It was a pain-filled, heart-wrenching scream that brought tears to her eyes, and she immediately let go, curses spilling out of her mouth in a hurried apology. His face twisted with pain and he grabbed her arm. God, he looked so tired...
"It's okay, Ashley..." He told her shakily, the black slowly crawling up his chest and around his arms, "There's nothing you can do... Just leave me... Once you get hit with one of these, you're out of the game. It's okay..."
Something about the way he said that... just really shook her. Maybe it was the fact that he was giving up, or maybe it was that he seemed to just... accept death. It made her mad... But most of all, it made her scared. Everything in her was just screaming, 'no no no I am not okay with this,' and as the darkness spread, her head started pounding and throbbing-and Jack looked worse and worse with every passing second.
Her eyes teared up as she scowled. "No, it's not fucking okay! You aren't dying on me, Frost! Not today!" Adrenaline pulsed through her veins as she tried to think of a way to stop the darkness. Tangling her fingers in her hair and pulling, she grimaced as she drew a blank. And Jack wasn't fucking helping, at all!He kept giving her this tired smile, and-and he put his hand on her cheek, like it was okay-but it wasn't!
She wasn't gonna let him die, damnit! She just had to think, and she knew that, but she couldn't!
As the black... whatever it was, began inching up his neck, she got an idea. It wasn't the best one she could have gotten, but it was all she could come up with in her panicking and fuddled mind.
Her trident... it killed nightmares! The black stuff and nightmares looked like they were made of the same thing, so maybe it could...
Nope. No maybe. She refused to believe that there was a maybe, because maybe sucked. Maybe was uncertainty, and Ashley didn't want to be uncertain when it came to her friend's life. So maybe was out of the equation. Her trident would fix Jack, her nightmare would not come true. Not today, or any other fucking day. He was gonna be okay. Period. End of story. And once he was, she was going to kick Pitch in the goddamn trachea for daring to even think about hurting her friend...
She reached back and grabbed her trident. "Okay, baby... I'm gonna fix you up." She swallowed thickly, trying and sort of failing to be more sure of success. "This is gonna work... It's gotta work."
Her heart hammered in her chest, and she lightly touched one of the trident's prongs on the arrow...
For a few horrifying seconds, nothing happened... Then the arrow exploded with light, and a giddy grin crossed Ashley's face as she watched the light spread to all the places the darkness had. By the time it was done, she was bouncing in place, heart soaring and face beaming, laughing at her own brilliance.
Jack gaped at the sight, and looked from where the arrow had just been, to the elated girl. She was so happy and relieved, she must have forgot herself, because tears were leaking out of her eyes like no tomorrow. She grabbed the winter spirit and crushed him to her chest in a bear hug, and even though it kind of hurt (arrow to the stomach and all), he didn't complain. Anyone could tell that she had been really scared, and she did kind of save his life... He figured he owed her a hug, at the least. And well... the warmth was always nice, too.
He still had to tease her, though, just a bit. "Aww, you do care."
"Yeah," She laughed, sniffling, "No shit, Sherlock! Yes, I freakin' care about you... I might never admit to anyone, but shit, I care about ya! Damn, I was so freaking scared-I could kiss you!"
Jack grinned against her shoulder. "Well, I'm waiting... And I always knew you had a crush on me... what, with you crying over me and all."
Ashley's froze, before all but leaping away from the teen and quickly wiping away any stray tears. "I-I wasn't crying, man..." She coughed, "I just... I just had something in my eye. And I do not like you! Why does everyone think I like you?!"
Jack gave a smirk, albeit a bit weakly, and started to retort when Vulcan's voice boomed, "Bomb's away, lads!"
"Uh oh..." She muttered, before jumping back on the teen and covering him up from the flying dirt and rocks as the ground trembled beneath them, while multiple nightmares screeched. It went on a good few seconds before finally stopping, and when it did, she sat up and rubbed the back of her head with a sour look. "Ow..." She grumbled. "Stupid rocks, man..." She brushed some dirt and stray grasses off of her shoulder before bringing her attention back to the teen. "Alright, let's check this out..."
Maybe it was the fact that her right eye was swelled up and she could barely see out of it, but it kind of looked like there was blood. And since she needed to be sure it wasn't, she lifted up his hoodie. Or rather, she started to, before the guy jerked away with a yelp.
"No, no, no! It's fine!"
She deadpanned at the winter spirit. "I'm not gonna strip you or anything, Christ, I'm trying to make sure you won't bleed out on me, Frost. So chill the fuck-" She faltered and squinted at the jagged tear in his hoodie, before blinking. "Yeah, that's definitely blood," She confirmed, trying to lift his hoodie again, only to get stopped again.
As you can imagine, her patience was pretty low at that moment, so she began to get just a bit frustrated...
"Damnit, Frost, stop being such a prude! I'm trying to help-We're in the middle of a fucking battle, I'm not gonna feel you up or anything! Let. Me. Help."
Jack opened his mouth to protest, only to close it before any words came out. He bit his lip, but nodded meekly. "Fine..."
He didn't need to tell her twice... She pulled off her backpack and hurriedly pulled out a clean rag, gauze, and a small tube of Neosporin before pulling up his hoodie and wincing. It wasn't bleeding as much as she'd expect, but she was hoping that that was a good thing. But still... the blood stained his white skin, and she quickly decided that she did not like the idea of Jack bleeding.
And she also came to realize that, oh damn, that had probably hurt like a bitch when she hugged him... "Sorry," She muttered as she wiped away the blood, sitting up and quickly looking around to see if any fearlings had caught sight of them. None had noticed them yet, but she still figured it was better to be safe than sorry, and dragged Jack and her stuff into taller grass. "I didn't realize that was there, I should'a known better... That had probably hurt, when I hugged you..."
Jack shrugged one shoulder as he watched her work. "A little, but it's okay," Jack's lips twitched up, "I had almost died, and you saved me, for the most part. If you hadn't have, I probably would've."
"Me thinks you're gettin' delirious, bud. Just... try not to move while I get this done." She told him slowly and threw the bloody rag off to the side. "You're losing coherency... or I'm just that irresistible."
"Not as much as I am."
"Ha!" She chuckled and shook her head as she sat him up and began smearing Neosporin on the wound. "Maybe, Frost, maybe..."
The teen started to retort, when he realized with a start that holy crap, she had actually kinda sorta agreed with him! He would have wrung it out for all it was worth, but he was starting to feel a bit light-headed... And he had never noticed how pretty her eyes were...
"You have pretty eyes." Jack mumbled.
Ashley stopped what she was doing, and gave him a bewildered look. "I knew it," She said with a note of finality, "He's lost his mind!" She cupped his face between her hands and lightly shook his head. "Stay with me, bud, we're almost done! Then you can just sit back and sleep or whatever... And also, just so you don't get offended, you have some pretty lovely eyes, too."
She sat him up and began wrapping the gauze around his torso. "So, a belt buckle, but no shirt? What's up with that?" The teen shrugged on shoulder, and she rolled her eyes before ripping the gauze and tucking it in. "There."
Dragging herself to her feet, she walked back and gave Jack his staff. He started to stand up as well, but she quickly stopped him. "No, no, no," She told him firmly, like she was talking to a dog, "You stay. You need to let it close up, and other medical junk."
"But I wanna help." He protested.
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You can help me by staying right there, where you'll be okay. Okay?"
"But-"
"-I ain't in the mood to play, Jack!" She cut him off shortly, "You almost died. Died. Alright? And I'll be damned if I let that nightmare come true, so you're gonna plant your ass right there, and just... stay safe... please...?" She'd started that off pretty pissed, but... by the end of it, she was pretty much begging, with the puppy-dog face and everything.
There was a very small number of things Ashley had mastered... and the puppy-dog face was one of them. Don't get her wrong, despite that, she was still a complete sucker for it, and she very, very, very seldom pulled it... But when she did... One forgot that she was a scarred, brash, rude, and very impolite girl. When she pulled the face, she pretty much always got what she wanted...
And that time was no exception.
Jack heaved a sigh, and deadpanned at the girl for a while, before reluctantly nodding. And the second he did, her face fell into a relieved demeanor.
"Good." She picked up her trident and cracked her neck. "I think it's time me and the boogie man had a heart-to-heart talk." As she turned and walked through the tall grass, the anger hit her full force, now that she didn't have to worry about Jack.
Several fearlings saw her and charged at her, but she sliced through them without a second glance. With every step, her anger boiled a thousands times hotter. Pitch had tried to kill her bro. He almost did. He had hurt her friends, and damn-near mentally scarred her baby. And she was out for blood.
This wasn't her usual brand of anger. As a matter of fact, she had never been mad like this before. It was a fury that burned so hot it was cold. Her face held no emotion, although her limbs shook with adrenaline. Every limb, every strand of muscle, every vein in her body screamed for revenge. And damnit all, she was gonna get it. Pitch was going to go down, and she didn't care if she had to go down with him. She was gonna bring the hurt on. End of story.
She whistled for Aleksei, and waited until the huge reindeer burst from the clouds and landed heavily in front of her. The beast snorted in her face, and she reached up the rub his snout. "Take me to Pitch." He made a noise similar to a whine, and looked down at her concernedly.
"I'll be okay," She told him quietly, "Take me to the Nightmare King." Aleksei seemed pretty reluctant, but he nodded and nuzzled the top of her head before she got on. She was suddenly really glad she'd taken the time to put crude but doable saddles on all the armor, as she got situated. Once she was on, she patted the side of Aleksei's massive neck. "Let's go."
He grunted and started running for a good few meters before leaping into the air, crashing through several nightmares on the way. It was a rough flight, and if Ashley had been in a normal state of mind, it would have terrified her. But, she wasn't.
Aleksei tore through the clouds while Ashley stabbed and slashed through any fearlings that dared come close enough to let her.
It wasn't all that hard to find Pitch. He was standing on a black cloud, just waiting for her, with his hands folded behind his back and a particularly smug look on his face. She hopped off of Aleksei and landed on the cloud, half expecting to fall through-though she didn't. When she was sure she wouldn't fall through, she looked over at Aleksei and nodded dismissively.
"You go on, now, buddy," She told him, tightening her grip on the trident until her knuckles were white. "Do your best to keep Jack safe, yeah?" The reindeer nodded and a look of concern flashed through his eyes before he shot down below the clouds.
"Jack's still alive...?" Pitch mused once her attention was drawn back to him. "Pity."
Yup... She was so kicking him in the trachea.
Author's Note~
Boss fight! And cliff hanger! I usually hate doing that, sorry. I was planning on all the fighting to be in one chapter, but I also wanted to finish it all today, before stupid Monday came around, and well... There was no way that was gonna happen. So, I cut it in half, and here ya go. I'll have more time on the computer once I start school, so every one can rest easy... The next chapter should happen pretty soon. Should.
This one is a little shorter than I've been doing lately... I'll try to make the next one a bit longer, if it isn't already long enough. Got some big things planned for the next one. There's gonna be a movie quote, a mommy, some scares (not for our spirit of courage), and some ass kickery. All of our favorite things! Probably...
Big thank you to all the people who've read, reviewed, favorited, and followed! I can't describe the big, goofy grin I get when I see new mail in my inbox! Gosh, I freaking love all of you, and if anyone ever wants to talk, PM me C: I've been talking to some lovely fans in the past while-won't say any names, you know who you are ;)-and I must say that you are the loveliest people I've ever had the pleasure of talking to!
So, as always, let me know if there are any mistakes, and I hope you got a few laughs out of my goofy little tale!
, BlueAsh666