Chapter 3: The Shadow Returns
"Jack! Your back!" Elsa said as Jack entered the ice castle.
"Yea, did everything end up well with Sophie?"
"All it took was a snow-bunny…but I'm afraid if it happens again I-"
"Don't worry. It probably won't. If it does, we'll all help out. Nightmares…well they're strange things aren't they?" Jack tried to dance around the topic.
"Yea, I guess. So what was the meeting about?"
"Honestly?" He asked. She nodded. He sighed. "Honestly I can't exactly say. But, the moment I can say I will tell you because it's complicated but …it's nothing to worry about. It's not like we're trying to keep you out it's just…ugh I can't explain it and it's just better for now, so just please, would you trust me?" Jack finished pacing and turned to her pleading.
"If it's that pertinent to keep it secret I guess I must. It's not because I'm not a good Guardian or something…or because I'm not well known, because actually I asked Olaf to-"
"No, no that's not it at all. It's because we need you we can't tell you. Ugh, it sounds terrible coming from my mouth Elsa."
Elsa smiled. He was too broken up about it to be lying. Of course she trusted him. "Okay, then. Don't worry about it…for now. But just realize the moment I get sick of being on the outside I will barge in and I will expect you to give me an answer." She smirked.
"Yea and what if I retaliate?" He smirked back.
She flicked her fingers up and caused a wall of ice to form behind him so he couldn't' turn away. "Then I'll just trap you here until you tell me. I have my ways." She shrugged.
He bumped up against the wall. "Ah, so you think a little Ice is going to keep me in?"
He pointed his cane at it and the ice crinkled and crumbled. "Can't fight fire with fire, or ice with ice." He shrugged smiling.
"Well then I'll just have to think up another way." She said, her eyes daring.
"Well until you learn how to build large brick walls with no roof, I'm afraid you really can't keep me here." Jack spun on his heel as if to walk away. Elsa froze his feet to the ground.
"Hey!" He said. "Oh clever, I've seen that one before… taking my tricks now are we?"
"No just using ice on the men I don't want to get away." She answered back just as coy.
"You know we're going to be a dangerous pair if we keep playing games like this!" Jack forced himself out of the bind.
"Well it is more fun. You know I think I understand why you like pranking so much…"
"Oh have you come to join my side on the Naughty list…"
"Well it was pretty fun letting everything go back in Arendelle…" She spun around him in a circle and walked over to a balcony over looking the dark evening sky of the North Pole.
"Well I'm glad to have you then." He said, and pinned her to the balcony ledge suddenly. She looked surprised by this action only for a second before he kissed her.
Suddenly he felt the rays of the Moon up in the sky. His promise to talk to Jamie... If it was already this late here, he'd need to leave again soon. He pulled away.
"Elsa, I actually have something to do for a bit. Just do me a favor and wait here until I get back."
"What is it?"
"Well…" He began. This was getting hard not telling her everything. It felt like a bold lie. "Sandman wants to do a run around of the kids, and since I know most of the people in Sophie's class well, he wanted me to come, to see if he could undo the Terrors. I'll be back in a little bit okay?"
She nodded.
Jack flew off and she watched as he was soon joined by Sandman.
She however didn't believe him completely. His hesitance made her believe that in fact it had something to do with their secret meeting today. She looked to her hands and then up to the sky as they were departed.
Maybe this was a bad idea…but her curiousity was getting the best of her.
"Jamie….Jamie…"
Jamie woke to the feeling of someone shaking him.
"Huh?" He whipped his eyes and opened them to see Jack and Sandman at the foot of his bed.
"We need to ask you some stuff about those Night Terrors."
"Huh? What? Why?" He said finding himself finally awake.
"Not sure yet. But Sandman here wants to know if he can reverse them. What happens when your sister has them?"
"Well..first she freaks out…she starts talking to herself like a vivid dream or something…but then she gets caught in them… it's really hard to wake her up too. Because if you wake her up she gets severely confused…and lately my mom said its really hard to wake her up even…but ya… I guess that's it."
"And she remembered her dream? Even though youre not supposed to remember them during night terros?"
"Well…well ya I guess. She told me she kind of remembered the other one being about a mean boy from school."
"Hmm…so they're not just focused on us." Jack looked to Sandman who nodded.
Sandman made a few motions.
"He's right. We're going to stay here for a bit longer and make sure nothing happens."
"But what could happen Jack?"
"Well..nothing particular, but we just don't like the idea of nightmares showing up again…"
"But you guys got Pitch!"
"Yep…well…hey, hey wait- was that-" Jack turned to see something slide past the window. A shadow? No a blacks stream …dust…Sandman come on, to the next room!"
They lept over to the other window to Sophie's room and found a serpent of black dust swirling around Sophie's sleeping head. It's eyes like two voids in it, hissing with black fangs, biting into her dreams, until an aura of darkness surrounded her.
"Sandman now!"
Sandman attempted to undo it but the Snake seemed to swallow his golden sand. The young girl started to thrash.
"No, it didn't work! Sandman her mother's bound to come in any minute but keep trying. I'm going to go see if I can spot Pitch anywhere." Jack flew out of the window and up into the sky. He saw some more of the serpents emerging through the sky from the ground, in and out of the shadows.
Jack tried to hit them with blasts of ice but they dances in and out of the sky smoothly dodging most of his strikes.
"Ahhh, the protégé of the moon is here once again to out do me…" A voice hissed from the shadows.
"Pitch? Where are you and how did you get out?" Jack looked around. Nothing.
"Ah, well you know what happens when you force someone to confront every fear they've ever encountered? They become fearless. But even more so they realize that nothing is more frightening then the darkness of all fears, of being caught in a chain of everlasting despair, and so low and behold…"
Pitch suddenly emerged from a nearby shadow. "You Guardians have given me my new play toy. These lovely dark Serpents, my own version of a Night Terror…they're really only in their basic form but the more I try to play with them, well the closer I will get to my end game."
"Which is?" Jack held his staff towards him ready to strike.
"Well for one releasing an enemy which you can blame yourselves for it's creation, if it wasn't for you leaving me in that hole I never would have come up with this. And two, for revenge. I truly hope to make sure every one of these children dream night-terrors which turn every single one of you Guaridans into monsters, and then let them fall eternally into a slumber, so none of you even have the power to exist. I'm not afraid of loneliness anymore even. I would love to start a world of my own actually. Make it so dark here, that even the moon's rays cant shine their precious divine light."
"And you think you can get away with this? Don't you remember who-"
"Oh yes, I remember well Jack. You were my stupid foil weren't you? Well then I guess I could always try to see what happens when a Night Terror serpent of mine bites a Guardian? What do you fear truly Jack? I would love to know?"
Pitch cocked a confident smile his way before sending three of the serpents towards him. He managed to get two of them but one was preceeding closer.
"Hah!" Jack said and stopped the third.
He hadn't seen a forth however coming from behind.
"Jack!"
Jack turned just in time to see the one behind him suddenly freeze stiff.
"What? What? Can you use your powers now without your staff!? No, who else is playing games here!" Pitch cackled angrily.
"Nobody…at least…" Frost was confused himself. He swallowed. Only one other person could have done that…
"Not nobody. Me."