Jack couldn't remember ever being so thankful to see Bunnymund. Then again, there was that one time when the pooka grabbed him from getting socked by an angry kangaroo during a visit to Australia, of which he was pretty grateful for. And there was also that other time when he carried him to bed after a sugar rush, avoiding an explosion of fury from Tooth, this too was he glad for. And also, there was the... Okay okay, Bunnymund was good at tracking Jack down by now and getting him out of scrapes.
When North sent word to the Warren that Jack and Venia went missing, Bunnymund rolled his eyes, put aside his armful of eggs to be painted, and tapped his foot to open the portal. He seriously questioned if Jack was just sent to them just to keep them humble. And Jack had gone missing with a girl? Now THAT was a new one.
"Bloody show pony," he grumbled, running with lightning speed through the tunnels between space and time. "Will he eva get the clue that the rest of us are too busy to go lookin' for him every half an hour?"
The pooka went to Burgess and grabbed Jamie along for the ride, looking every place he had marked as a favorite hiding place of Jack's. He was surprised to catch a whiff of his cold scent in the warmer winds of the west, and he was even more surprised when it lead him to a cave in the middle of a desert in Arizona. What in bloomin' heck he was doing out here, he tried not to imagine. But when the portal opened to a passage in the cave with a sweaty Jack and a sleeping Venia, Bunnymund's anger spiked. He pounced on the teen boy, holding a boomerang to his neck.
"Jack! I've had enough of your tricks! In just half a week you almost drown in my river, and then you get North all riled up about you and this new girl missing. I go lookin' for you all over the whole dang globe, and I find you and her in this cave in the middle of no where. If you wanted to have a little fun, why don't you juss say somethin' so people don't worry?!" He pressed the boomerang into his neck more.
Jack panted as sweat rolled down his forehead, drop after drop. "What are you talking about?"
The pooka could just shake him. "What are you doing out here in the desert under the ground in a cave?! With a girl, more or less?!" Jack's eyes hazily focused on the pooka before rolling to the back of his head.
He knew it wasn't a good idea to leave the little, cold pool in the cavern with the glowworms. But Venia was anxious to get out, and to tell the truth, he was getting anxious too. Whether it was claustrophobia or the awkwardness of the night before, he didn't know. But he reluctantly agreed and they set off to try and find the end of the cave. It wasn't long before it became darker, tighter, and dangerously enough, warmer. They were both still weak, not completely refrozen from the desert heat. Soon enough, Venia suddenly slumped to the ground and passed out. Jack picked her up and carried her as far as he could, until he too had all his strength drained.
He couldn't remember how long they had laid there, having slipped in and out of consciousness, but when Bunnymund showed up with Jamie, he was flooded with relief. Regardless of the fact that the older Guardian had his weapon pressed against his neck at the moment.
"Bunnymund.. Please, get us somewhere cold. We need to be somewhere cold." Jack's slurred speech caused Bunnymund to take a step back in worry.
"Frostbite, what's the matter?"
Jack swallowed, his stomach lurching everytime he spoke. "We're too warm."
Bending over, Bunnymund's features softened as he touched Jack's warm body. He only knew the winter spirit to be like touching dry ice, painfully cold. And now he could pick him up if he wanted to without so much as flinching, which he did just that. "Jamie, get Venia. We're headed to the Pole."
With a little effort, Jamie scooped up the girl and they dropped into the pooka's portal. In a blink of an eye, they popped up and out, landing in a deep snowbank.
Bunnymund sputtered and shook the snow from his grey fur. "Blimey! It's freezin'!" He gently placed Jack in the snow. "Jamie, start packin' it."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*G*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A sharp pain in his chest caused Jack to open his eyes with a cry. His eyes danced around the room out of control, his mind spinning as he desperately tried to focus on something. He hardly noticed the light brush of fingers against his forehead and the soft gasp of, "His fever broke!"
Groaning, Jack squinted his eyes shut against the light of the sun that streamed from the window. Apparently, they were no longer in the cave, the soft material that swept across his skin when he moved was proof. Voices floated through the fog in his brain, the quick chipper of a lighter one and the slow depth of a thicker one. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but he did recognize one of the words he heard earlier over and over. "Fever", "fever", "fever", they said... He had a fever?
"What's going on?" he attempted to speak, ending up being a hoarse whisper. His throat felt raw like sandpaper.
"He's awake!" came the light voice again.
Familiarity leaked through the tendrils of his mind, wrapping around the voice and giving it the colors of blue, green, gold, and pink. It was shaped into feathers and wings. "Tooth?"
He heard her squeal, and imagined her fists pressed up against her cheeks in surprise. "He can hear me!"
Jack licked his lips, his dry mouth making the movement of his tongue slow. "Where am I?"
"You're at North's Pole, sweetie," she answered softly, putting a cold rag on his forehead. "You were stranded in a desert cave, and Bunnymund found you."
"A cave," he repeated to himself. Oh yeah, the cave. The one he and Venia fled into in the desert. No wonder he felt so dry.
"How are you feeling?" The cloth left his face a moment followed by the sound of dripping water.
Jack thought to himself a moment. Well, truthfully he felt like he had been hit by a truck, but what good would that be in saying. It would only gain him sympathy, of which he didn't need or deserve. "I'm fine."
The silence in response caused him to sigh, thankful that Tooth didn't press him. Another wave of exhaustion rolled over his lifeless limbs, weighing his eyelids down to a solid close. "How's Venia?"
Tooth sighed, "About the same as you. Your physical conditions are a lot alike."
An image of the pale girl with blonde hair crossed his mind. Her eyes were closed, a gloved hand gracing his cheek as he saw her face leaning closer to his. He shook the memory away, bothered by the mystery of it. Another image of a dark haired girl with glazed green eyes and blue frozen cheeks invaded the grace of the previous girl. Her hair's wet locks were frosting white, the peace of death seeping into her gaze up at him. Her fingers clutched at his clothes, the air constricted as her lungs collapsed.
Curling into the fetal position, Jack sighed. "I just wanna sleep." And with a small effort to divert his thinking, he slipped into a deep sleep.
Toothiana didn't notice the black muzzle that crept from the shadows, forming from a grainy ink into a green eyed equine monster.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*G*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"It's going to happen again soon. I can feel it."
Bunnymund slammed his fist on the table. "North, Pitch's defenses were disabled years ago. There's no way he was able to harness the nightmares back to him so soon."
"Then explain this!" North's voice echoed dangerously through the halls of the Pole. His finger pointed accusingly to the black, twisting figure of sand shaped as a horse, its eyes glowing green with fury. A golden chain was wrapped around its face and all of it's hooves, the gold trailing out to the hands of a short man with yellow flames of hair.
Bunnymund's eyes flashed. "It might be a runaway, a random nightmare trying to wreak havoc on its own. They dot the earth, North, whether you want to admit it or not."
Jack shivered in his seat as the eyes of the nightmare bore into his core. He gripped his staff a little tighter.
North tapped his temples. "But why is it here? There is reason why its here, they normally don't bother us."
Tooth sighed, turning from her conversation with a small group of fairies. "Maybe it lost its way. A wandering nightmare this far from children would be starved for someone to scare, even if it is a Guardian that's the only one around."
"Then why not attack yetis? Why not try to scare their children?" North caught himself, having earned a sideways glance from Phil who stood at his side. "Not that we want them scared, but if that were the case, why would it skip over them?"
"Why aim for Jack?" Bunnymund finished for him.
Jack's head lowered as he felt the guilt of the situation bear down on him. He could sense Venia's eyes checking him over in worry, her natural care evident her gaze. But he didn't look at her, he refused to look at her. The nightmare from earlier was still heavy in his conscience, and he couldn't bear to face a young woman at the moment.
"Jack is probably more vulnerable, considering he's just a child himself," Tooth commented.
Sandy showed a sand checkmark over his head, nodding as he gripped his golden ropes that held the evil.
Jack's heart now pounded in his chest. He never told the Guardians about the offers Pitch had made for him to join him. He knew Pitch was getting stronger, he could feel it even before the meeting he had in the woods with him. His gut tightened as he remembered the feeling of having his abdomen kicked the crap out of. Pitch was back, it wasn't that hard to see. It was why he was back that was the puzzling factor. If he knew Jack wouldn't join him, why would he keep going back to him?
"I have a feeling that Pitch knows something that we don't, which isn't a good thing. And he's using it against us," Bunnymund's nose twitched as he focused on Jack. "Have you any ideas? You've been awfully quiet."
Jamie scoffed from the couch. "He's been quiet this whole time."
Bunnymund hopped away from the table, making his way to the winter spirit. Jack leaned back a little as his personal space was invaded. "Mate, what's goin' on? We've tried to respect your privacy, but too many things aren't adding up, and there's too many foggy things going on around here. A lot of them involving you."
"Like why do you lie to me," Jamie started, glancing over the book he had his nose in.
Jack frowned, "I told you that wasn't a real lie, Sport. It was a diversion. I had a rough day, and just didn't want to talk about it."
"Why were you having a rough day, Jack?" Bunnymund's eyes pierced the icy blues.
He got into the pooka's face. "Why am I being interrogated like some kind of criminal?"
"Bunnymund, Jack, stop," came Tooth's soothing voice. "Jack, we're just trying to help you. We're just as confused as you are."
Jack relaxed some, stepping back from the pooka's face. "Bunnymund, I'm not hiding anything you guys need to know. I had a bad day, end of story."
"I tried to make it up as that when you said so the first time. But since that bad day, things have been happenin'." Bunnymund's gaze never left the teen's. "You're fightin' with Jamie, you almost drown in my river, a new spirit shows up, and the two of you go missing for a couple of days."
"And besides that, you just look sad, Jack," North noted softly. "That's not like you."
"And about the incident with Venia. I found you in a bloody cave in a desert?!" Bunnymund's voice rose a few decibels. "If you know you're not supposed to be anywhere warm, what the heck were you thinking? Take the girl to Paris, it's not as hot there."
Jack blinked, his mouth gaping in shock. "Hu-what?!"
The other Guardians also whipped their heads back, their eyes sticking to Bunnymund. Venia frowned in confusion. "Bunnymund, what on earth are you talking about?"
The pooka froze awkwardly as he observed the clueless looks he was getting, especially from Jack. His eye twitched. "Well... I thought that's why you went away with her."
"Went away with her? What the freaking heck are you blabbing about?" Jack's face twisted. "Me and Jamie and her were playing a game. She disappeared, and I went looking for her. I found her in Arizona and the wind wouldn't take us back, then a sandstorm blew up, and I was forced to retreat to the cave. What was going on in that skull of yours about what you think happened?!"
The silence lingered thick through the room. An awkward-looking Bunnymund twisted his ears back and forth and his nose twitched ever so often. "Well... Boy and girl goes missing. I find them all alone and away from society, one passed out and one sweaty." The others eyes bulged even bigger, if that were possible, as the realization dawned on them all. "What was I supposed to think!"
Jamie suddenly burst out laughing. "Aster thought that Jack and Venia went off and-.. Ahahahahah!" Easily triggered by humor, North joined in with him.
Jack's cheeks turned a shade of red that surpassed the shade he had during the fever. "That is NOT funny. I am NOT that type. That is just disgusting."
Venia turned even more white, her skin matching the color of her hair as she debated on whether or not to run from the room. This was almost too humiliating to bear.
"Knock it off," Jack growled, turning to Bunnymund, who's confused face now sported one of suppressed mirth. "No, dude, that's not what happened. Geez, what the freakin' heck do you take me for?"
Bunnymund crossed his arms. "Mate, when you're a young teen boy and meet a pretty girl, everyone is tempted to think things they usually shouldn't. Especially when they go bloody missing. Ya can't blame me for suspecting."
Jack slammed his staff down in irritation. "Well, I do. And we got off topic, if you hyenas don't mind."
North and Jamie sobered, covering their mouths as they deliberately looked anywhere but at Jack and Bunnymund for fear of laughing again. Tooth rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. "We were saying?"
"Pitch is gaining power," Jack replied, his tone and eyes still narrowed. "And we don't know how or why. I say we take out this nightmare and keep an eye out for anymore foul play. The globe is still glittered with lights, so we don't have a state of emergency or anything like that right now."
"Everything is still in speculation," Bunnymund concluded, still eyeing Jack.
"Well, just so you guys know," Jack gestured to all of them, "I don't know what's going on either. I'm not secretly planning anything with Pitch, and I remain just in the dark about it as you are."
North's eyes were soft. "We know, Jack. It's just your strange behavior timing with Pitch's nightmare was a little concerning. Especially since it seemed interested in only you."
"My behavior has been due to some personal issues, of which I don't wish to discuss. But it doesn't involve Pitch, I swear." He glanced up at Venia, quickly looking down when he did.
Tooth fluttered over to the pale boy. "We are here for you, you know? Whatever it is."
Jack gave her a smile. "I know. And I might take you up on that one day. For now, I just ask that you.." He winced slightly. "I ask that you all would just leave it alone."
Tooth's expression drooped, sympathy lining the creases of her violet jewel eyes. She suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a hug. In shock for only a moment, Jack relaxed in the embrace, his heart soaking the care with its throbbing beats. He suddenly realized just how much he needed this; but when she shivered, he instantly began to pull away. "Thanks, Tooth."
"My pleasure," she fluttered to the side, giving her ear to one of her little fairies. "A lateral incisor! Oh goody!" Jack chuckled.
"Well! Who is going to do the honors?" North asked, rubbing his hands together and looking at the nightmare.
The black horse whinnied, tossing its head and struggling against its bonds. Sandy wrapped the cords around his hands another time with one hand, grabbing his whip and slashing its hide with the other. The horse never calmed, it only quickened its rebellion. Jack shifted his staff further up his hand, walking in front of the raging nightmare. With a determined focus, he summoned the power through his staff and instantly the evil was frozen, splattered on the floor where it once stood.
"Phil! Clean up in globe room!" North boomed, walking off. "Anyone hungry? I'll fetch more cookies."
Jack looked over to Venia, an apologetic smile on his face. She shrugged weakly, her eyes darted to the floor in an embarrassed flush. Friggin' Bunnymund.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*G*~*~*~*~*~*
Jack awoke early the next morning with only one name in mind. Having slept with his dreams personally guarded by Sandy, he woke up refreshed and with hardly an ache or pain. Save for one, the one that now always drove deeper through his heart and into his soul. Jack had learned to live with the pain of loneliness and the pain of rejection. But the pain of guilt was a new ballgame for him. One that he honestly didn't feel up to playing anymore.
It was becoming easier and easier in the dark corners of his mind to accept that he wasn't needed anymore, that his revoked title as a Guardian was no longer to be associated with Jack Frost. He knew he didn't deserve such a title, and he knew that what he did had severed anything that indicated he did. Yes, he had saved his sister. Yes, he had saved Jamie several times. Yes, he had saved many children, and he had saved Venia just that week. But he had also killed, with his own hands, and no amount of good deeds could make up for that. He knew this.
Yawning, he opened the big doors of his window, his feet slowly padding on the snow of the balcony floor. He shuffled closer to the edge, gripping onto the rails with his hands. The guilt slowly leaked from his heart again, climbing up his chest and fingering its way to his throat, wrapping around and choking the air. He gasped, shutting his eyes against the tears as his shoulders shook with held sobs. The nightmare he had froze yesterday was right. He could still hear the hiss of a dark voice, very much like Pitch's.
"You belong in the darkness. Cold and loneliness, it goes together with it. You need to stop fighting the Moon's purpose for you."
He pressed a fist again his forehead, focusing his whole being on trying to get this horrible, sickening, hollow feeling from his chest that threatened to suffocate him. But as the whimpers softly escaped his pale lips, his attempts hardly pressed, the feeling proved too overwhelming to simply get rid of. In fact, he couldn't imagine ever being able to get rid of it.
"Why so glum, Mate?"
Jack snapped up, frantically wiping the tears from his eyes. He spotted the source of the voice casually leaned up against the side of the window, a smirk on his face. "Bunnymund! What the heck!"
The pooka chuckled, giving the egg he held in one paw a swipe with a paint brush that he held with the other. "Did I disturb you?"
"I find you generally disturbing, especially with the fact of you either spying on me this whole time, or sneaking up on me. Either route, you're still creepy."
"Eh, I can get used to it," Bunnymund mused. "So, I wanted to find out something."
Jack wiped any excess tears with his sweatshirt sleeve to be sure. Apparently, and thankfuly, the Easter Bunny didn't see him crying. "What do you want, Cottontail?"
The pooka gave the egg a few more strokes with the brush, his brows knitted in concentration. "I wanted to know.. Why you told Jamie that I was going somewhere.. When clearly, I wasn't." He looked up at the teen from his work.
Jack squinted. "What are you talking about?"
"Now normally," the brush was pointed at him, "I don't give a rat's butt about how you go about tricking people. But involve me in it, and I'll get downright testy."
Jack lightly hit his palm on the railing a few times. "Please, enlighten me as to what you're talking about. I can't give a good answer if I don't even know what you are talking about."
"Jamie told me that before all the disappearing thing started, Venia had wanted to go see Sandy and Tooth, she said." He squinted one eye at him. "But you said that I was going to be out and busy going somewhere or doing something. When in actuality, I stayed at the Warren all day and never told anyone of any adventures I had in going out for any reason."
Jack slowly blinked as he remembered his excuse, the one Jamie had called fishy. "Oh yeah.."
Bunnymund kept Jack's gaze. "Why did you say that?"
Jack stiffened as he stood erect, his mind spinning wildly for any explanation other than what he had. "Umm.."
"Just give me the truth, Frostbite. It's just me and you." The brush remained still, hovering above the white surface of the eggshell.
A heavy sigh escaped his lips, giving away his sense of security. "It was nothing against you, Kangaroo."
Bunnymund's brush began moving again. "Oh? What was it then?"
"It was-" His head started to hurt. Why did he have to know this right now? He hadn't even had breakfast yet. Not that he normally ate breakfast, but still. "It was... A trick. I was trying to keep someone from doing something."
Bunnymund hummed. "Hm, this much is obvious. I want the facts that aren't so obvious."
Jack huffed. "Why?! Can't you just go? I'm not really feeling up to talking."
He looked up again with an intrigued glare. "Why?"
Jack's eyes narrowed, the frustration tingling in his fingers. All it would take is one blast of ice to freeze him, but then again there would be hell to pay later. "Fine. I was trying to keep Jamie from coming with me and Venia somewhere."
The pooka's eyes widened, his brush lowering to his side. "What?"
Jack sighed. "Jamie had football practice and wanted us to stick around. I wanted to take Venia off by myself to go see the rest of the Guardians, and not have Jamie around. It sounds horrible, I know. But it's the truth."
A grin curled at the side of the pooka's mouth. "Hmmmm so is Frostbite gettin' a lil' crush on somebody, eh?"
"No!" Jack roared. "No no! She's just a pleasant person to be around!"
"Don't come the raw prawn, you are crushin', Mate."
Jack squinted. "What the heck does that even mean?"
Bunnymund walked closer to the teen, placing a paw on his shoulder. "Now I believe that you didn't do anything earlier with her. But don't be a drongo. Make a move as soon as possible."
Jack shrugged off Bunnymund's paw. "Nice advice, Terd."
Bunnymund shook his head. "No, not like that. Listen to me."
Jack stopped struggling, dragging his eyes up to the pooka's. "What then?"
Bunnymund looked into Jack's eyes, sealing an hidden pact with him. "Treat her right. This opportunity doesn't come along all that often."
Jack stared at Bunnymund a moment before blinking back into reality. "She deserves better. Whatever my feelings may be for her."
"Frostbite-"
"No!" Jack exclaimed, ramming his hands over his ears. "Stop it, Kangaroo, I really don't like her! She's just a good friend."
Bunnymund shrugged, backing off. "Can't say I didn't try. But don't forget it." The pooka left through the window, leaving Jack to mutter to himself.
So it was that obvious, huh? Jack ran his fingers through his white hair, blowing an enormous amount of air from his lungs. He couldn't let himself like Venia. He couldn't even touch her. The moment they had in the cave was unexpected and quick, but it was the fear of hurting her that held him back. He would only hurt her and may even kill her. He didn't know anymore, he no longer trusted his own judgement. Whatever the heck happened there, he didn't understand himself. Why did life have to suck so bad?
He paced back and forth, unaware of his own anxiety. What the flip, to heck with the whole thing. He didn't deserve anything pleasant and sweet, especially not from Venia. As long as his hands were bloodied with the murder of that innocent girl, he had no right to get close to anyone. He couldn't afford to either. If he were to be the cause of another death, his heart would be too broken to live. Already it barely hung on its hinge.
So the reason why his blotchy feet landed on the porch of Tooth Palace wasn't for redemption. It wasn't for closure, or even for the hope of seeing that he was somehow wrong in his accusations against himself. It was purely out of curiosity.
"Hey, Tooth," he smiled, waving his staff at the Tooth Fairy. Her colorful body glistened in the light of flashing gold from her palace, as little miniatures of herself flew in every direction. Baby Tooth appeared from a group of her sisters, sqeaking in delight. "Baby Tooth!" The little fairy zipped over to Jack and nuzzled against his cheek, causing him to laugh.
Tooth turned around and gasped. "Jack! What're you doing here? How are you?" She flew up to him, almost knocking him over in an embrace.
"I'm okay," he chuckled, gently pulling her arms off of him. "Listen, Tooth. Can you do me a favor?"
Her white smile flashed. "Anything, Jack."
"I need.." He paused, watching her closely. "I need someone else's memories."
The preppy flutter of her wings halted. "Why do you need someone else's memories?"
Jack bit his lip. "Because... something once happened, and I need to know how it came about." It was a lame explanation, but he couldn't do it any other way.
Tooth looked skeptical. "Jack, that's hardly a good reason."
Jack sighed, leaning on his staff. "I know. Fact is, I really don't have a good reason. But I do need to know. Rather, I do want to know."
She lightly shook her head. "Well, Jack, I'm not supposed to show children's teeth to someone else other than themselves. It's a rule in the-"
"Please, Tooth." The urgency in Jack's eyes pleaded with her. He wasn't fully sure of himself why he wanted to know so bad. It was just curiosity after all. "Please, will you do this for me just this once?"
Toothiana observed the teen's darkened eyes, the way his back haunched slightly, and his hollow pale cheeks. Squinting an eye, she put her hand on his shoulder. "Promise you will take good care of it?"
Jack gave a firm nod. "I will guard them with my life."
She smiled, brushing his bangs from out of his eyes. "Good. What's the child's name?"
It was then that Jack spoke the name he woke up to that morning, for the first time. Tooth quickly found the case of teeth, the picture of a raven haired girl smiling up at him with green eyes on the side. It was the same name that Pitch had uttered during that little tiff they had in the woods a few nights ago.
"Sarah Hopwood."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*G*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
777 views and 15 reviews, HOLY CRAP. And all by you amazing people. Wow... Wasn't expecting that. You guys rock.
So I haven't felt completely up to par lately. Kinda been fighting some major down in the dumps situations. I hope i haven't let anyone down with this chapter. :/
thank you for reading! Your support is appreciated :) Please review?