Hi again! Sorry about the wait! Microsoft was being a poo face again and decided that I needed an upgrade so I could continue to use it. It wouldn't let me write one letter on it. I looked up for the upgrade and guess how much it cost?A hundred flipping dollars! So obviously, I didn't buy it, I am currently using open office instead which I have never used in my whole life so sorry if they are any mistakes or anything else at all. Oh and did any of you see Jack the Giant Slayer? I saw it for one of my friend's birthday party and I loved it! I really recommend it. Here's the usual thank you to: WRATH77, AyameKitsune, starskulls, sakuradancer3, Angelic Frost, Dark Inu Fan, LuvFiction Xxxx, storygirl99210, bluekittenish, Taranodongirl1, fee O, thunder angel13, lilyflower5189, ReaderWriterDreamerGirl7, TigerLily1818, AkemiClover27, TeddyBear98, GGCharms, Delph1762, Katyuana, Dancingfrost, Alaia Skyhawk, Wolfgirl705, camierose, SnowFlower Frost, TwiliCuckoo, Sleepery, Kuroshiroryuu, Jesters of the Moon, The Magnetic Witch, VectorPrime155, GreatWolfSpirit, Alana-Kittychan, IwillNeverStopFangirling, maximum ride fang1995, Adele365, cg2096, superdevil22, Night-Fury1, Detective Kid1412, freefall-gypsy, lilalove88, Jack Frost the Frost Child, Keruchian, Kagirinai-Eternal, cuteknight101, Halloween264, AbigailPaine, Michelangelofanlover, randomreviewer, and Lillix-Lolita for the awesome reviews :D They really otivated me into writing this chapter faster! This is probably the chapter before the drowning one (Man, I'll have fun writing that one). A lot of people asked for it and it'll come ;) So without further interruptions by my annoying self, here's the chappie! Enjoy!
...
The next scene the Guardians saw was a fire camp with at least a dozen children surrounding it, all of their attention on a teenager with brown hair and brown eyes sitting in front of them, making spooky faces at them and making gestures with his hands to accompany the story being told.
"And then, as the young boy advanced to the mouth of the dark cave, a shadow leaped at him!" He said in a dramatic voice and the children gasped.
"The young boy tried to get away, but to no success! He opened his eyes that he did not realized that he closed and he came face to face with..." The kids leaned in forward in anticipation. "The boogeyman!" Jack said in a spooky voice, wiggling his fingers with a smirk on his face.
"Pitch? Why him? A slimy green monster would have made the story a lot better than him!" Bunny said.
The kids gasped again. "Oh no!" A little boy said. "What did he do? Tell us Jack! What happened?"
Jack frowned mysteriously. "You want to know what happened?" The kids nodded vigorously ans Jack
sucked in a long breath and said. "... You'll find out tomorrow."
The kids groaned in disappointment and a little girl said. "But Jack! We have to know what happened!"
"Well," Jack said with a smile. "If you all want to know, you'll have to be good to your parents and eat all of your vegetables tomorrow, then your parents will tell me if you all behaved and then tomorrow night, I'll continue my story. Deal?"
"How clever of him, but isn't that kind of like blackmail?" Bunny asked.
North barked a laugh. "Ha! That's a good kind of blackmail I would say. It encourages the children to behave."
"But that's cheap! We want to know what happened!" Pippa whined.
"Well then be good girls and good boys." Jack said.
The children sighed in defeat. "Fine." They groaned and a few adults looked at him with grateful glances.
Jack got up and picked up his staff and a lantern, he took his sister's hand and they walked into the woods, using a familiar path to take them to their house.
"Isn't dangerous to go into the forest when it's so dark?" Tooth asked with concern.
"Pff, relax Tooth! They've got a lantern after all!" Bunny smiled and Tooth huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You're being ridiculous, think about it! There could be wolves, bears, all kind of dangerous animals in the forest at night! And they haven't got a single weapon!" Tooth said.
Bunny smiled reassuringly. "Ah, don't worry, if they ever need any help, the little squirt has on of my egg pendants remember? If there's any trouble, she'll use it, I'm sure."
Tooth huffed again. "Yeah, some relief that is."
"Jack?" Pippa asked.
Jack hummed to show that he was listening.
"Is there such a thing as the Boogeyman?" She asked.
Jack raised his eyebrows and looked at her. "Why do you ask that?"
"Well, when you tell us your story, you make it seem so real sometimes. As if the Boogeyman is actually here and that he could snatch us from the shadows and bring us to a dark cave to give us horrible nightmares!" She said then shivered.
Jack chuckled. "Do you believe that he could do that?"
Pippa frowned. "I'm not sure... I'm confused. Do you believe in the Boogeyman Jack?"
Jack smiled. "Yes I do."
"He does?" North said, a bit surprised.
A pair of golden eyes watched the conversation in interest, unnoticed by neither of the children or the Guardians.
"But I'm not afraid of him." Jack finished.
"Why not?" Pippa asked curiously.
"I'm almost certain that he exists. We both know that the Easter kangaroo, sorry Bunny is not just a story." Pippa giggled when she thought of her huge furry friend and her hand brushed the delicate pendant that the Easter Bunny gave her last Easter. "That's for sure. If he exists, that means that the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and that Santa should exist too. So why not the Boogeyman? If there are legends to bring joy and happiness to children, I think that there should be some that bring fear and sorrow too. I believe in them, but that doesn't mean that I have to fear them. Does that make sense?"
"He has a good point." North commented.
Pippa nodded, her brother's theory made perfect sense.
They continued to walk until Pippa gasped, on the ground, where she put her foot, the ground wasn't hard and dry, it was soft and sandy. Jack lowered his lantern and frowned when he saw saw a pile of sand, but not golden like it usually was, but black with a touch of silver.
Tooth gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. "Nightmare sand!"
"What in the world is that?" Jack asked to himself and crouched down to touch the sand but then it slithered away from his hand and into the shadows. Jack's frown deepened. "Weird..."
Pippa tightened her grip on her brother's hand, her eyes wide with fear. "Could we go Jack? This is freaky."
Jack nodded in agreement and stood up, but then pushed his sister defensively behind his back when he saw that a huge amount of sand swirled up to form the shape of a man with dark robes and a mean smirk.
"Pitch!" Bunny spat and the Guardians took out their weapon by instinct, forgetting that they were invisible for a minute and then sighing as they realized that they could not do anything to help.
Pippa whimpered in fear and buried her face in her brother's shawl. Jack dropped the lantern in shock and it shattered on the ground, glass flying everywhere and the flame spluttered and died out, leaving the two siblings completely in darkness, save for the reassuring light of the moon shining in the dark sky.
Jack raised his shepherd's crook defensively and said. "Whoever you are, leave us alone!"
"Brave boy." North said.
Bunny stomped his foot in frustration. "I wish we could do something instead of just standing there!"
The man chuckled and clapped his hands together. "Oh, isn't this fun! Two children, alone in the forest, and both of them believe in me! But you don't fear me boy? Is that so?"
Jack's eyes widen in recognition. "You're the Boogeyman!"
The man smirked. "Yes indeed boy, I am. But most people know me as Pitch Black. Pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine." Jack spat.
While they were talking, Pippa had secretly took off her necklace from her neck and whispered. "Please help us." Then dropped it on the ground and stomped on it, the little egg crushed under the pressure. She watched silently as the shell of the egg evaporated into a trail of bright green mist, then sank to the ground. Pippa prayed that it would work then turned her attention back to her brother and Pitch Black.
"Ha! Told you that she would call me! I thought I remember that she did... You guys were there too I think..." Bunny said, trying to remember what happened.
Tooth frowned. "I'm not sure that I was, I think I do though... let's continue to watch and see how it turned out. I hope that they'll be alright..."
"What do you want with us Pitch?" Jack said harshly.
"Oh nothing difficult, just to start spreading a little more fear in the world, and it seems that I am succeeding with both of you. I can just smell you fear and it's... delicious." Pitch cackled evilly.
Jack growled. "You're a lunatic!"
"Darn right!" Bunny yelled.
And at that moment, behind Pippa, the ground opened up and Bunny leaped out quickly and the hole closed, leaving a small flower in the middle where it was. "I saw your call, are you all ri-" Bunny said and his eyes widen when he saw who Jack was talking to. "Pitch!" He snarled.
Pitch gritted his teeth together. "Oh it's the pesky rabbit again!"
Bunny advanced in front of Jack and drew his boomerangs. "You just won't stay dead, won't you?"
Pitch sneered. "I aim to please." Then he threw a jet of nightmare sand to Bunny who threw a boomerang to intercept it. "Run kids!" Bunny shouted then yelled a battle cry and ran to attack Pitch.
"Why didn't you open up one of your tunnels and bring the kids with you?" Tooth asked with a frown.
"Hey, I didn't have much time to think alright?" Bunny countered.
Jack took his sister by the hand and they started to run but then Pitch threw another attack of nightmare sand and Bunny could only block the majority of it and the little bit that was left flew behind him and hit Jack square in the head. Jack groaned and slumped to the ground, his staff falling beside him just moments after and his grip slipping from his sister's hand.
The Guardians gasped in concern for their youngest friend and ran to him and his sister, sadden by the fact that they couldn't do anything for him, but at least wanting to see if he was alright.
"Jack!" Pippa squealed and tried to wake him up by shaking his shoulder. "Jack! Jack, wake up! We have to get out of here!" Jack only groaned again and started to mumble.
"Bunny!" Pippa yelled urgently.
Bunny looked back for a second, half-way about to throw his boomerang and his eyes widen when he saw Jack on the ground. He growled and, with new found strength, he ran to Pitch and hit him over the head with his boomerang, knocking him out cold. Then he put his boomerangs back in their sheath and hopped to Jack and Pippa.
"How can you not remember that?" Tooth asked Bunny loudly.
Bunny flinched at the tone of her voice. "I don't know! I really don't!"
Tooth ignored him and hovered over Jack with concerned eyes. "Oh, is he going to be alright?" She asked no one in particular.
"What happened?" Bunny asked.
Pippa began to sob even harder. "We were starting to run, but then some of that black sand hit Jack in the head and then he just fell unconscious to the ground! Can you do do something for him?"
Jack gave another twitch in Bunny's arms and mumbled feverishly, sweat starting to collect on his forehead.
Bunny sighed. "No, I can't do anything. But I know someone who can!" He added the last part quickly before Pippa could lose hope.
"Sandy isn't it?" North asked.
"It has to be, it's obvious. Oh! Can't they hurry up! I have to see if Jack will be alright!" Tooth said.
"Relax Tooth! If he's going to be a spirit later on, that means that he lived and that he's going to be just fine." North reassured her.
Behind them, Pitch got up and smirked when he saw Jack shivering on the ground then laughed to himself and retreated back into the shadows.
Bunny heaved Jack into his arms, picking up his staff at the same time, and crouched low enough so that Pippa could lace her arms around his neck then stood and stomped his foot lightly on the ground and a tunnel opened up.
"Wait, where are we going? Ma and Pa will be worried out of their mind if they don't know that we're safe!" Pippa said in a rush then added mentally: 'Well, that one of us is safe and the other currently unconscious.'
"We're going to see someone that can help your brother, so hold on tight okay?" Bunny replied.
Pippa nodded and squeezed her arms around his even tighter. Bunny took a deep breath and with a small hop, he jumped into the tunnels and ran to the North Pole, the Guardians quickly following suit before the hole closed.
...
In a matter of minutes, they were already at the Pole and Bunny hastily hopped out of the hole and called. "North? North! Emergency, call Sandy!" He laid Jack and his staff on the floor and Pippa let go of his neck just as North burst out of his work room and said. "Oh Bunny! What have I told you? Do not open a tunnel insi-" He froze when he saw Jack shivering on the ground and his sister still trying to wake him.
"Bunny!" He exclaimed. "What happened?"
"Pitch happened!" Bunny replied. "Now could you please call Sandy? This boy has been hit by some sort of nightmare sand!"
"I don't understand, why do we know about Pitch's return then, but we didn't know three hundred years ago? It's just really confusing." Tooth commented and the others shrugged, just as confused as her.
North's eyes widen when he heard that their old enemy was back. He nodded and went to call the rest of the Guardians, even if they needed Sandy the most, he sill needed to tell Tooth about Pitch's return.
North went to the globe and pushed the button, sending the Northern lights soaring high in the sky. Then, he turned back to Bunny and the little girl, who were both still trying to wake Jack up.
"Come on mate, at least do us a sign that you're listening!" Bunny muttered, but Jack only moaned louder and shivered, trying to find comfort in Bunny's arms.
Pippa sobbed. "Come on! You lazy butt, you're scaring me!"
No answer.
North crouched beside Bunny. "What's his name?" He asked, taking Jack's temperature.
"Jack." Pippa sniffled. "He's my brother, I'm Pippa."
North smiled at her. "Well Pippa, as soon as Sandy, that's the Sandman, comes here, he'll make sure that your brother gets well in no time! You'll see."
Pippa's watery eyes widen in wonder. "I'm gonna see the Sandman? And you're Santa!"
Tooth smiled. "I always liked that kind of light in their eyes when kids talk about us..."
North chuckled. "Yes and yes. Ah! Here's Tooth!"
Pippa gasped when she saw a flurry of colourful feathers coming in the room. " Hi guys! What's the matter?" Then she saw Jack on the floor and gasped. "Oh my gosh! What happened to this boy?"
"Pitch." Bunny snarled. "He can make some sort of nightmare sand now, and you can see what happens when a kid gets hit by some." He gestured to Jack who wrapped his arms around his too-warm body and he cried out in fear from one of his nightmares.
Tooth's hand flew to her mouth. "That's horrible! The monster! He's really back? How dare he hurt a innocent child like that! Where is Sandy? He should be here!" She said that all in a rush and Bunny cut her off with a wave of his hand.
"Sheesh sheila." Bunny chuckled, trying to lighten the heavy mood. "Calm your nerves."
"Yes, Pitch made another appearance, but he wasn't strong. If he was at his full power, Jack here would've already gone mad with fear." Bunny said. "I think he just wanted to maybe 'test' this new sand of his."
Tooth growled in outrage and flew closer to the group. "This boy, Jack, is not a guinea pig that you can simply test anything on! He's a child!" She exclaimed. Then she saw Pippa and sat down beside her. "And who might you be?" She said with a smile.
Bunny smirked. "Man Tooth, heavy mood swings you have!"
Tooth huffed and punched his arm.
Pippa sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "I'm Pippa. J-Jack's sister."
Tooth's eyes soften in sympathy. "He's your brother? I'm so sorry that you have to see him like this. It's all Pitch's fault." Her tone turned harsh again. "He tore hundred of families apart, and all because of that fear of his."
Pippa smiled sadly. "But there has to be fear, isn't there? Without it, there wouldn't be any balance because if there is happiness, there has to be sorrow. If there's love, there has to be hate. That's how it work doesn't it?"
North grinned. "Well she learned a lot from her brother didn't she?"
Tooth's eyes widen at her display of wisdom for such a young age and she smiled. "Yes it is, how did you know that?"
"My brother told me, I love him very much. I don't like seeing him like this, he's always been so strong, it's kind of a shock to see him so weak and pale." Pippa said with a trembling voice and fresh tear sprung in her eyes when she realized what was really going on and she let out another sob.
Tooth wrapped her arms around Pippa to give a little bit of comfort just as just as Sandy flew into the room in a golden plane, he jumped out of the plane and flew towards the group, question marks an apologies for being late flying around his head.
"Sandy!" North exclaimed in relief. "You're finally here! We were beginning to wonder if you would be coming at all! Quick, come over here! A boy named Jack has been attacked by Pitch, he got hit by some sort of nightmare sand and since that it seems to be the opposite of you, we thought that you might be able to help."
Sandy's eyes widen and he nodded, hovering quickly to the group and lowering himself gently to the floor. He put both of his hands on the sides of Jack's head who twitched violently when Sandy touched him. Sandy took a deep breath, then closed his eyes and concentrated. The others backed up a bit to give Sandy some space.
The Guardians and Pippa watched in fascination as Sandy calmly took both of his hands and placed them over Jack's mouth, slowly lifting them upwards and they gasped when they saw the trail of black sand following the golden hand.
"Sandy. I never knew that you could do that!" Bunny said with a admiring smile.
Sandy only shrugged and smirked, he made a few images out of dream sand to show that he didn't either and that maybe it was just instinct because nightmare sand was the opposite of dream sand.
Sandy raised his hand and slashed his hand downwards, as if throwing a ball, and the black sand shot towards the wall and melted into a shadow.
Jack drew in a long breath, the exhaled, his previously tense body now slack and relax. The Guardians, -both memory and not- released a breath that they didn't know that they were holding in.
Pippa ran towards Sandy and squeezed him into a hug. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!" She said happily and Sandy patted her on the head awkwardly.
The Guardians snorted at the look of discomfort on Memory-Sandy's face and Sandy huffed in annoyance.
Pippa let go of him and crouched down to her brother and shook his shoulder. "Jack, can you wake up now?"
"Is he alright now?" Tooth asked just to be sure.
Jack batted his sister's hand away and frowned. "Five more minutes Ma..." He groaned.
Bunny smirked. "Yup, he's going to be alright."
Pippa sighed in relief. "Jack! You're okay!" She jumped on his and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Jack's eyes flew open and he looked around. "What in the world is happening?"
Pippa let go of him and started to explain quickly. "Wellwewereintheforestandyoug othitbythissortofblacksandth enyoufellasleepbutyouweren'thavingadreamitwasanightmare andthenBunnyledushereandthen theSandmandidthiscoolthingto gothtesandoutofyourmouthandt hewhoosh!Itwasgone!" She said that all in one breath and Jack looked at her in confusion.
"I did not understand one thing that you said little lady." He said with a chuckle.
Pippa took a deep breath and explained more slowly this time. "Okay, long story made short: we were walking in the forest, then the Boogeyman came and attacked us, I used my necklace to call Bunny and then they battled. But a bit of that black sand hit you head and you just fell unconscious to the ground and then Bunny beat Pitch. He bring us here and the Sandman took that weird sand thingy out of your mouth and then you woke up."
Jack nodded in understanding, (the Guardians noticed that he immediately believed her and didn't think of her as crazy) then he looked around in wonder. "What is this place?" He gasped.
North cleared his throat. "Erm... You are in my workshop at the North Pole." He said proudly.
Bunny smirked and elbowed North. "Always wanting to show off don't you?"
North ignored Bunny but let a smile show on his face.
"Wow wow wait, if this is your workshop and that we're in the North Pole, that means that... You're Santa!" Jack realized with a smile. "I've always wanted to thank you for those skates you gave me, I sent you a letter but I didn't know if you got it."
North thought for a moment and his eyes lit up in recognition. "Ah, you're Jackson Overland Frost aren't you? The boy who only wanted happiness for his family for Christmas! Of course! You are very welcome my boy!"
Jack smiled and got up, picking up his staff along the way.
Pippa beamed and pointed to Bunny. "And this is the Easter Bunny! As you already know."
Jack smirked. "Kangaroo."
North snorted loudly then covered his mouth.
Pippa shook her head and continued. "This is the Tooth fairy!" She pointed to Tooth and Jack grinned to her, a big mistake.
Tooth was about to say hi but her mouth dropped open when she saw Jack's perfect white teeth, she squealed and zoomed to him, ignoring his yelp when she shoved her fingers in his mouth and inspected his teeth.
"Oh my gosh! They're so white!" She exclaimed in a high pitched voice. "How do you do that?"
North chuckled and pulled Tooth away from a wide-eyed Jack.
Jack shook his head slightly and smiled again.
Pippa huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah. All the girls in our village swoon when they see his smile."
Tooth sighed. "I can't blame them..."
"Love at first sight..." Bunny whispered at Tooth teasingly and she elbowed him in the ribs in return.
"And this is the Sandman, or Sandy as the others call him, he's the one that saved you!" Pippa finished.
Jack looked at Sandy with gratefulness in his eyes. "Thank you, I really appreciate that." He said sincerely and Sandy bowed his head with a soft smile.
"Well, it has been fun to meet you, but I think that we should bring you home!" North said.
Pippa and Jack frowned. "Aww, but you guys are so nice!" Pippa said then turned to Bunny. "Can't you give me another of your necklaces in case we need help?"
"Sorry sheila, no can do. That was the last one that I had."Bunny said apologetically. "But I'll tell you another way that you can call me, you just do this." He stomped his foot two times, a pause, then three times, a pause then one more time. "If you do that, I should be able to hear you from my tunnels then I would come to your help okay?"
Pippa nodded and repeated what Bunny just did and said. "But can't we stay for a few more minutes?"
"I'm afraid not young one." A voice that resonated in the whole room said, then the full moon became visibly from the skylight.
"Man in Moon!" North greeted. "What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean, is that you were not meant to meet these children in the first place, Father Time said so himself. On Easter, young Jackson was suppose to simply pick up the egg and walk away, finding his sister moments later and winning their competition."
"Hah! Hear that Pippa? I won!" Jack shouted but then mumbled. "Sorry." Embarrassingly when he saw everyone's eyes on him.
"As I was saying, young Jackson was never meant to meet Aster and his sister was never meant to get that necklace, in the end leading them to meet you all."
"But Manny, we are aware of the fact that we were not suppose to meet them, but we already did. So there's nothing we can do about that." Bunny countered.
They heard a sigh and MiM's voice continued. "It pains me to announce you this, but Father Time will erase you memories about the times that you met and replace them with ones about you all living your normal lives and never meeting each other."
"Oh so that's how we forgot about them!" North realised.
"But he can't!" Jack protested. "We don't want to forget them!"
"And neither do we."Bunny agreed. "You guys can't expect us to move on like this and forget that this ever happened!"
"Oh but you will my friends." A new voice, a deeper voice said. "I am sorry that you already formed a bond and that you are all close, especially young Jackson and Pippa and Bunnymund. But this has to be done."
The others were about to protest when their eyes suddenly went blank and they slumped to the floor, unconscious. Pippa and Jack disappeared with a flash and the Guardians followed them. They found themselves in the woods, the two sibling blinking confusingly and got up.
"How did we end up on the floor?" Jack asked with a frown.
"This is confusing." Pippa groaned. "Can't we just go home? You still have that story to tell us tomorrow!"
Jack's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! But that still doesn't explain how we got the the ground." He picked up his staff and Pippa took the unbroken lantern, they took each others' hands and walked away to their house laughing and joking about how they might have ended up on the ground.
Tooth shook her head. "I still can't believe how Father Time would just take away our memories just because 'we weren't meant to meet'."
"But at least he showed us now what happened. I have a feeling that he wants to maybe apologize for this to have happened to us and as an apology, he showed us this memory."
They were beginning to see the familiar flash of white coming and Bunny gulped. "I have a strange feeling that the next memory is going to be a big one..."
And with that, they were gone.
...
Oh my gosh, this took SUCH a long time to write! I hope you enjoyed it though! It's currently 1:33 in the morning (Hi mom and dad, if you're reading this, please don't hate me, I know that you told me to go to sleep at around 10:00, but I really wanted to give a chappie to these nice people *grins innocently*) and I'm really tired but I really wanted to post a new chapter so if you guys see any grammar mistakes, please forgive me, I tried to see if there were any and I'm not sure that I caught them all. And also, remember that I'm with OpenOffice and that I don't really know how this works so sorry if there are any mistakes. This took 15 flipping pages in total and almost five thousand words, do I am quite proud of myself *grins stupidly*. So anyways, I'm going to write the new chapter as soon as possible since so many people asked ;) So yeah, Peace out!
Loks
