I have some good news; that apprenticeship i applied for last month, i've got it. I'm in the middle of sorting out all the loose ends before i start (and let me tell you, apparently there are a lot of them to sort). This does have the knock-on effect of updates being affected however. It's going to be a full-time job, 37.5 hrs/wk, and something that will take me a while to get used to before i settle into it. So updating will be every 2-3 weeks at the earliest, possibly once a month. At least to start with. wish me luck! ^.^
Thanks to all my reviewers again; i hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you seem to have liked the last two x
Eb x
Jack jerked awake without warning, jumping when a large hand rested on his shoulder.
"Easy there buddy, you gave us quite a scare for a while there." Bunny settled him back against the pillows and grinned. "Quite an impressive display though. You almost blew North clear off his feet." the rabbit chuckled.
"I did?" confusion didn't come close to what was going through Jack's mind right then; he had no memory of anything after seeing the Nightmare. He remembered the black horse, then a feeling of rage like nothing he had felt before and something in his mind had screamed defiler. Anything after that was fuzzy, like static from a radio. It reminded him strongly of when he had first awakened as a spirit, and it wasn't a feeling he liked.
The smile slipped from Bunny's face. "Yeah, ya did." he paused and then, "You don't remember?"
Shaking his head, Jack looked around; he was back in the workshop.
"North carried you here mate." Bunnymund said in response to the spirit's unspoken question. "You're beginnin' to make a habit of collapsin' on us."
Jack blanched; he'd fainted again? 'This is getting old.'
"Bunny," North entered, spared a nod for Jack before facing the rabbit again, "Sandy's back."
"You don't look happy about it." Bunny observed.
North hesitated. "He brought company."
Bunny's ears drooped. "Oh boy."
He helped Jack to stand – better for more of them to be there just in case – and together they walked into the main workshop. Sandy was standing near the window, looking pleased if strangely nervous. Toothiana was flittering nervously around the large orb of sand that now hovered near the Guardian plaque.
"Where did you disappear to Sandy, we were worried." North asked the Sand Man loudly. In reply, a sandy image of a mountain and trees appeared over the little man's head and he looked over his shoulder at the window nervously again.
"I don't think I'm gonna like this." Jack muttered under his breath, eyeing the sand orb warily when it bulged on one side, glowed brightly, then stilled.
"What in hell is that?" cried Bunny suddenly, grabbing everyone's attention as he eyed a rapidly growing speck in the sky. "Sandy what did you do?"
A muffled call for help issued from the orb and all eyes turned from it to the speck, which was quickly taking shape.
"No way." Jack said, awestruck, edging nearer for a better look. "Is that a-"
"Dragon!" Bunny yelped, dragging Jack behind a stack of crates as North grabbed Toothiana and dove to the other side. Sandy was nowhere to be seen, which was probably just as well; the window shattered under a bolt of blue-black flame and a large black body crashed onto the wooden floor.
With an almighty roar the dragon was up again instantly, and Jack looked around the crates cautiously and watched it cast glowing green eyes around until staring at the sand orb. Growling all the while, a sound the room's other occupants felt within their bones, it carefully nudged and poked at the ball with it's nose.
"Sandy, what the blazes did you do?!" demanded Bunny as the oldest of them reappeared beside them. Quickly chaotic images of the forest, a human figure and a dragon, a net and then the orb manifested. "Well no wonder it's so bloody furious, you kidnapped its buddy!" the Easter Bunny hissed.
"I didn't think dragons existed." Jack pointed out, still observing the magnificent and extremely rare creature as it made some sort of a distressed whine in its throat.
"They are all but extinct." North explained from his own hiding placed under a stair; the dragon was taking no real notice of them now; only it's ears twitched every now and then but its full attention was on the ball of sand that was now once again kicking and yelling furiously. "Used to be they filled the skies with fire and song. Humans wiped them out centuries ago. There were rumours that there is place they still exist. A sanctuary if you will, protected by a powerful and mysterious spirit."
"What's the betting Sandy caught the spirit?" Jack said wryly. The Sand Man gave a guilty little shrug, but then made some more gestures and images that were far too excited and fast for any of them to understand. "Sorry bud, didn't catch that."
Glowering, Sandy pointed at the orb, which abruptly popped much to the dragon's – and it's occupant's no doubt – surprise. The four Guardians readied themselves for the worst, but what tumbled to the floor with a loud "Ow!" was a young man with dark brown hair wearing a brown leather sleeveless jacket over a loose green shirt and brown trousers.
"Nu ti dajosh!" North exclaimed loudly when he got a good look at the kid. "Sand Man you've done it this time."
"I'll say." Bunny added as the dragon began growling up a storm once more. He twitched nervously, tensing.
"Ok, where the hell am I? Who are you people and why am I here?" the lad demanded, one hand resting on the dragon while the other went to his belt and the short sword that rested there.
"Good question." Jack said cheerfully, leaning on his staff. "Why did you bring us a kid Sand Man?"
What the winter spirit vaguely recognised as the previous set of symbols flashed excitedly over the little guy's head as the kid snapped "I am not a kid!"
"Yeah, Sandy, that made about as much sense as the first time." Jack replied lazily, though now his icy blues were locked on 'the kid', who was also staring at Jack with something akin to recognition in his green eyes.
The Sand Man made to sigh, then began a replay that was so slow it was obviously exaggerated, scowling at Jack all the while. The boy's form, the dragon, the forest and the mountain – they got that much; the boy was the spirit of the forest and apparently at least friendly with dragons if not their rumoured protector – then a tree, an hourglass, a different dragon, a leaf and a crescent moon. Then he went through the whole series again.
"Sarcasm doesn't become you mate." Bunny told him sternly, scowling at the little man.
"Wait!" Toothiana pointed suddenly, flying towards them. The dragon moved as though startled and then growled at her, baring sharp teeth. "That last dragon, show me again."
Sandy obliged her, now smiling contentedly. Jack tore his gaze from the boy to look at the symbol.
"I was right!" she cried triumphantly. "It's part of the seal, North. It's part of the sigil of Autumn!"
"The dragon and the tree." Jack murmured, his eyes focusing on the boy once more as something flashed across the freckled face.
"It is like Jack." North uttered incredulously. "We don't recognise them because pictures are out-dated. They do not look the same anymore." he stared from the boy, to Jack, and back again. "They are younger."
The boy, during all this, had gone from staring them down to fussing over the dragon; apparently he'd decided that they weren't worth the hassle and since they hadn't attacked then he was free to turn his attentions elsewhere. Besides, his father had taught him never to get involved with crazy people and this lot were clearly as nutty as squirrels; he should know, he dealt with the crazy little critters often enough.
"I can't believe you flew all this way with nothing to operate your prosthetic tail buddy. That was really stupid of you you know. That can't have been easy. Now I've got to check and make sure you've not injured yourself." The dragon nudged him with his nose affectionately before resuming his intent stare on the others, making the boy laugh. "Yeah I know, I love you too buddy."
"You fell in the pond."
He froze as surely as if he had been turned to ice.
Slowly, the young man turned to face the speaker. The other people in the room had stopped speaking now, and even the dragon was watching the white-haired spirit curiously. The hazel eyes narrowed as they observed him suspiciously. "Come again?"
Despite the unfriendly gaze, Jack stayed put. He had no idea why he knew this, but he knew that this was the kid from his earlier memory overload. The boy was getting ready to leave, and for some reason, crazy and utterly insane as it might seem, he just had to get him to stay. "You were showing off for the girls and you climbed a tree to pull off some fancy trick with your dragon, but I snuck up on you and startled you. I was running late and none of you expected me back right then. You fell out the tree and belly flopped into the water and pulled me in with you. It took half an hour to wake you up, and over an hour for Blondie and Frizz to calm the lizard down again."
The was a heavy silence.
Then . . .
"How do you know that?"
Suddenly uncertain, Jack didn't answer. How did he know that? It may have been the same story he'd told Bunny in Gaia's garden, but there was a lot more detail that time. Not to mention two new names that Jack hadn't known before.
"Wait, you remember who you are?" Bunny was confused; how could this kid know, but Jack not?
"I remember the event." the scrawny lad corrected, not looking away from Jack. Something in his tone implied that this was not the entire truth, while in his eyes understanding dawned. "Who are you?" this last was directed only at Jack.
"Jack Frost." trying to regain some of his usual cool, he leaned casually against the staff. He was still getting used to being believed in in any capacity; whenever he introduced himself he still expected people not to know him. So it came as something of a surprise when the young man responded with;
"Jokul Frosti? Figures."
"Yea- Wait . . . what?"
"Jokul Frosti." the lad fished something out of a satchel strapped to the dragon's underbelly and inspected it disinterestedly. "Grandfather Frost, Father Winter? Married to Spring?" he added, like this should have been ringing bells.
"I'm what?" he turned accusingly to North. "Tell me he's joking? Married?"
Not wanting to be on the receiving end of a nasty frost spell, but also uncertain himself, North turned to flick feverishly through the Book of Seasons. Eventually he decided not to say anything at all; silence was better than frostbite.
"At least, that's what the stories say." the lad continued warily as he watched the exchange, the horned helmet now forgotten in his hands.
"I am not married." Jack stated stubbornly, glaring at him for even suggesting it; no girl had ever attracted his attention. Ever.
"With one daughter." the boy added, now with a smug smirk, though privately he wondered why he wanted to rile this winter spirit up so badly.
"Oh no. No way. Not me." They were almost toe to toe now as the dragon watched on in amusement.
"Payback for the bath, my friend." was the smug reply, the green eyes glittering mischievously.
Jack's mouth dropped open; was this kid taunting him? But then, surprisingly, he laughed. "Fair enough."
The dragon made a sound like a gruff laugh and the lad turned back to it. "I don't know what you're laughing about Toothless, you're due for a bath." The growling laughter cut off abruptly and was replaced by a wide-eyed stare.
"Toothless?" Jack eyed him and the dragon unbelievingly. "Last time I looked that thing has teeth. Big, sharp teeth."
The brunet looked at Toothless, who blinked and huffed, and then at Jack with a wry grin. "It's more a private joke really. But you see," He lifted a corner of the dragon's mouth, displaying a completely toothless mouth, and then poked a certain spot on the dragon's cheek before pulling up the corner again to reveal a row of very sharp teeth., "they're retractable." he finished with a sheepish grin.
Indeed.
"Wow. Amazing! Let me see!" Toothy didn't wait for permission and just flew right on over and began poking and prodding. "Oh they're so white! I didn't think they'd be white. And strong! I've never seen dragon teeth before . . ." she twittered away cheerfully, all nerves forgotten. The dragon was bemused, but surprisingly docile under all the fuss.
"Is she always like this?" asked the young man nervously, to which the others all responded with "Pretty much."
"So what's your name kid?"
The young Viking turned to face him again and held out a hand. "Hiccup. And I'm not a kid. I'm several hundred years old."
"Likewise." they shook hands, but it felt less a first introduction than it did a renewal of some kind. Like reaffirming something important. Hiccup's hand grew warm, while the temperature around Jack dropped dramatically and both released a flash of light at the contact; Jack ice blue and Hiccup russet like his jacket.
"Hah! I knew it! I knew he was Autumn!" North declared gleefully, rubbing his hands together.
"How the blazes did you figure that one out Sandy?" Bunny asked, awestruck. Sanderson shrugged and formed the image of the forest once more, indicating that he had come across the lad before.
"Autumn?" Hiccup asked nervously.
"Each of the four seasons had a keeper, chosen by Gaia herself and by Man in Moon and Lady of Sun." North intoned gravely. "Jack is Winter. You are Autumn."
"Is he joking?" Hiccup whispered to Jack when North and Bunny busied themselves with the book again.
The winter spirit gave a bitter laugh. "I wish."
Hiccup seemed to sense that asking about that would be a bad idea, and instead questioned the two older males. "You said earlier that we're younger." he made air quotes as he spoke. "If we are who you say, what do you mean by that? Shouldn't we be older instead?"
"Not necessarily." North corrected him, flicking to a specific page in the book. "When first created by Gaia and by Sun and Moon, the Four were children, and grew up in Gaia's garden under her care. By the time the Four were lost to time, they were adult in form. But you two, you are in the form of children. Like you began again."
"Like you've been reborn." Bunny added grimly. "Which is increasingly likely. Jack was human before he became Jack Frost. I bet you were too."
Nodding, Hiccup replied "I was the son of a Viking chieftain."
"Whoa, a Viking? Seriously?"
"Yeah, it was pretty awesome, once I found my place." Hiccup grinned at Jack.
"Then you keep reincarnating." Tooth mused, finally done with fussing over Toothless' teeth. "I wonder why."
"Then how do you know we are who you say we are?" Jack interrupted, still trying to hold on to the belief that he was only Jack Frost and not some legendary Keeper.
North gave a sly smile and turned the book stand to face them. The page on the left was a full colour image, resembling a watercolour painting. It depicted a tall young man with long-ish brown hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and vibrant green eyes, dressed in deep earth tones with a large black dragon curled around him on the ground. The dragon looked an awful lot like Toothless, and the man bore a striking resemblance to Hiccup, though there were obvious differences aside from age; Hiccup had paler skin and was a lot skinnier. But when Jack looked at him the boy had gone whiter than snow.
He didn't get the chance to comment. North turned the page to another illustration, another young man, slightly taller in appearance and more lithe than the first, (not that Hiccup's doppelganger was built like a brick house that is) with shoulder-length silvery white hair and piercing ice blue eyes wearing silver, blue and white. He held a staff in one hand and a flurry of snow floated above the other, but noticeable in the pocket of his white shirt, beneath the dark blue cloak, was a light purple flower that looked remarkably like a lily, the only thing on him that looked out of place, and yet at the same time it looked as though it belonged there.
The resemblance was uncanny.
"Indeed it is."
Hiccup hadn't realised he'd spoken his thoughts aloud until Bunny winked at him. Then the rabbit grew sober. "I need to go, I think I might have a lead on Spring and Summer. We know Pitch is after the four, so I'm gonna try and get there first." Without further ado, he tapped the floor with his foot and disappeared down the hole that appeared there.
"Pitch?"
Jack noticed Hiccup's confusion first. "Pitch Black. Ego maniac, antagonist, bad guy, you'd know him better as The Boogeyman." he pulled a face. "Come on, I'll explain." He wrapped an arm around Hiccup's shoulders and they walked off, talking.
Toothiana giggled. "It's so sweet, you'd think they'd been friends forever already!"
"Won't last. Autumn may have been one of so-called gentler seasons but even he has temper. Jack can try patience of saint." North sighed. "Still, peace and quiet for now. Enjoy it while it lasts."
Toothiana flicked back a few pages until she found an illustration of a striking red-head, then flipped over to the image of a blonde. "I wonder who the other two are now and where we'll find them." she paused, tracing the sigil of Spring. "And why reincarnation?"
o.O.o
Pitch watched the tower as the shadows lengthened and the sky turned steadily black. He had been waiting for the better part of a day, and while he had more than enough patience, he was frustrated. He had known that one of the seasons was already further from his grasp than he would have liked, but had received a nasty surprise when he had visited a forest in north-western Europe only to discover that the protecting spirit was already gone.
No matter; he had not walked away completely empty-handed after all. He would get what he wanted eventually.
Silently, he moved towards the base of the stone structure. Dissipating into black sand, he travelled up until he reached the window, where he slipped inside. The room was lit by several candles, on the stairs and banister, and a young girl was painting by the soft light. He observed for a few moments, his face a mocking parody of sweetness, before he blew sand from his hand to snuff out the flames.
The girl's reaction was instant. She yelped, whirling around. A black cast iron frying pan that had been lying innocently nearby was snatched up and held defensively before her, trembling slightly as she turned every which way, trying to peer into the darkness of the newly fallen night.
"Who's there?" her voice rang clearly in the shadows, the green of her eyes reflecting the little moonlight that entered the window, making them appear to glow. Pitch only chuckled, and while he could see that she trembled, he had to commend her for her bravery; the girl did not run and hide.
Slowly, step by cautious step, she walked down the stair and onto the floor of the main room. "I said who's there? Show yourself!"
"The King of Nightmares." he whispered, chuckling again when he noticed a little green blob on her shoulder; how sweet, she had a pet.
She scowled, pursing her lips. Then they parted, and the sweetest of sounds began to issue from her slim throat. "Flower gleam and gl-"
"I think not little sprite." He interrupted her swiftly, swooping down from his place in the rafters, forcing her to stop singing and crouch to avoid being knocked to the ground. Her eyes followed the dark shape, but it was difficult to see.
Slowly the shade moved closer, until she could hear it breathing. "Who are you?" She was thankful that her voice was steady, in fact it sounded braver than she felt, but she was backed into a corner. It wasn't somewhere she wanted to be.
Instead of answering the question, he asked one of her. "What is your worst fear?"
The shadow loomed over her and a rustling sound grew, louder and louder.
Before she could even blink, total darkness entrapped her, and all that was left behind was the echo of her scream.