A Better Life
Summary: Jack is beaten and abused by the Guardians every day. His only friend is Pitch Black. When Pitch pushes him through a white portal, suddenly everything has change. The Guardians are suddenly caring. Pitch is suddenly evil. What's going on?
What's this? What's this? Another chapter? What's this? But it hasn't been six months. What's this? Memma really finally uploaded, am I dreaming, I just can't believe my eyes! What's this?
Yeah I'm not sure if I upload just as quickly as this time
Bunny: This is quick?
Hush Kangeroo.
Bunny: Don't call me-
I'm back at uni so it may be another long wait for you guys for the next upload. But I'm going to try to get both this and Icy Shadows as done as soon as I possibly can. So fingers cross it won't be long until chapter nine but I don't know how much assignments I'll be caught up in so just be aware you might be in for another wait.
Anyway I hope you enjoy- Bunny give me back my chocolate!
Bunny: That's what you get for calling me Kangeroo!
But Jack calls you that all the time!
Bunny: And why do you think his teeth are so shiny?
Eight
"North! We've got a problem!"
North and Tooth both jumped up as the doors to the living room came crashing open and Bunny ran through. The Pooka looked frantic, eyes wide and wild with fear, his fur standing on its end.
In his arms was Jack, the boy too shock and surprised, from when Bunny had scooped him up into his arms and ran all the way here, to react to being held by the rabbit. He was still holding the white teddy to his chest.
North was about to ask why Bunny had dragged Jack out of bed, especially with the young teen being so mentally fragile and physically hurt right now, but just as he opened his mouth, Bunny interrupted.
"It's Pitch. He's been here."
Bunny couldn't help but growl at the mention of the nightmare king, causing Jack to snap out of his shock with a flinch. Bunny suddenly realised that in his own fright, he had scared Jack and might have damage what little progress they made.
Cursing himself, he lowered Jack onto one of the sofa chairs, "Sorry, mate,"
Jack was still shaken up, both to Bunny's reaction to the speck of black sand and the growl reminding him a little of his nightmare, but he slowly nodded, "It's okay."
Bunny returned the nod before turning back to North.
Tooth and the Baby Teeth fairies swooped over to Jack to make sure he was okay. Tooth focused on being gentle and comforting as she asked how Jack was, to stop her fairies, especially Baby Tooth from panicking, while at the same time trying not to panicking herself.
"There was black sand under his bed, North. If I hadn't went in to check on Frostbite just then, who knows what might have happened?! He could have taken the kid again, right under our noses!"
"Bunny," North said softly, but meaningfully, his gaze on Jack.
Tooth didn't miss a beat as she gave Jack a reassuring smile.
"Hey, why don't we go to the kitchens, get you something to eat? I'm sure it'll be nice to stretch your legs for a bit."
"Um...okay..." Jack said.
To be honest, he wanted to stay where he was. Older Jack had said that this Pitch had killed him but Jack still didn't know how bad this Pitch was. From how the Guardians were reacting he sounded much worse then what Older Jack had mentioned and Jack wanted to know just how worse.
However, he knew the Guardians wouldn't continue to conversation while he was in the room. Plus, if they did, it would probably contain raised voices and after being forced back into his universe, even in just a nightmare...well, Jack didn't want to be around raised voices right now.
So he let Tooth and the Baby Teeth lead him out of the living room. As Bunny had not grabbed Jack's staff, Tooth supported Jack so he wouldn't have to walk on his injured leg. Not that Jack wasn't used to walking on broken legs, but the gesture was nice.
"We should think about getting you a wheelchair or some crutches." Tooth said, keeping her tone as light as possible, "I don't want you making your leg worse if you don't have your staff with you."
Jack scrunched up his nose. While the crutches were somewhat better than the thought of being confined to a wheelchair, Jack didn't really like either.
He remembered when he had stayed at Pitch's one time. It had been near the Christmas holidays. For some reason, the Guardians seemed to not bother Jack as much around this time (Jack assumed it was because of North having to scramble to get all the toys he had forgotten about done and the other Guardians took time out to taunt the Russian at not being good at his job). Meaning, the boy could hide out in Pitch's lair until Christmas was over and not come back to more beatings (or at least more beatings than usual).
Just before the holidays, one of Jack's cuts was badly infected and so Jack had ended up getting a fever. It caused him to become dizzy a lot and, as Bunny had once again broken his leg, it meant Jack was crashing a lot.
When Pitch had saved Jack from falling of one of his bridges and found out about the fever, first he had scolded Jack for not telling him and then he had banned him from flying until his fever had gone down. At the look of mortification on Jack's face, Pitch had promised to let Jack use crutches in the meantime.
It had not gone well. While Jack appreciated the gesture and was glad not to be stuck in the bedroom Pitch had gave him, he could never get a hang of crutches. Despite Pitch teaching him over and over again how to correctly use them, Jack ended up tripping and falling over more times than he had when flying.
In the end, Pitch had compromised by letting Jack fly again, but only if Jack hovered just a foot of the ground and that either Pitch or Nyx was with him at all times when he flew, at least until the fever had cleared up.
Remembering how kind Pitch was to take time from work and studying in that library of his, just to make sure Jack didn't injure himself, and then remembering seeing him dead on the ground, caused Jack to stumble a little bit.
"Jack, are you alright?" Tooth asked worriedly, catching Jack quickly before he fell.
Jack felt Baby Tooth settled on his other shoulder, tweeting softly in concern. Jack had his eyes closed, trying to stop any tears from escaping.
"Yeah," He said, feeling a catch in his throat. He coughed, trying to swallow it, "Yeah, I'm okay."
Tooth didn't look reassured, but didn't question it, as they finally enter the kitchens. Despite the amount of Yetis rushing about the kitchen disturbing Jack a bit, he felt relieved as the business distracted Tooth, the fairy busy ordering the yetis to make Jack dinner while, at the same time, trying to find Jack a place to sit that wasn't overrun by the furry creatures.
"What are we going to do?" Bunny immediately asked as soon as Jack and the fairies were gone.
"We need to up security." North stated, "I'll get the Yetis straight on it."
"How is that going to help?" Bunny growled, "Pitch can move in the shadows. I don't think all the yetis or even all the elves can watch every shadow, mate."
North sighed, pacing the room as he tried to come up with a solution. Bunny rubbed his forehead, his head aching from his worried thoughts.
"What about Sandy?" Bunny asked.
North titled his head as he thought about it. If this was any other situation, he would not be hesitating to contact Sandy and bring him back to Santoff Claussen. Sandy's sand was the only thing that could keep back Pitch's nightmare sand and Pitch was terrified of the sandman, meaning Sandy's mere presence would keep Pitch back, at least until the Guardians could come up with another way to keep Pitch trapped in his lair for another good thousand years.
But this wasn't any other situation.
"I'll try contact Sandy, see if he can send more sand this way." North finally decided.
"We need Sandy, not his stupid sand!"
"Bunny..."
"I'm not having to kid snatched away from us again, North!" Bunny shouted, "Sandy's the only one Pitch's really afraid of, he needs to come back! He shouldn't have left in the first place, like some rotten coward!"
"Sandy is not coward!"
"Then why the hell did he leave?"
North sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I do not know the specific reason."
"Then why the hell did you let him lea-"
"But I do remember how Jack ended up breaking down." North continued as if he hadn't been interrupted.
Bunny hesitated, as he recalled the scream of terror and the kid huddled on the floor, muttering no over and over again.
"The kid had just got back after being through hell, mate, of course he was going to be a bit shaken." Bunny said, but his tone was no longer loud and angry as it had been before.
"You said so yourself, Sandy is only one Pitch is afraid of. What false memories do you think Pitch gave Jack to get him just as scared of Sandy as he is?"
This time Bunny completely froze as he was hit with the realisation of what Pitch might have done to Jack's mind.
"Surely not?" He whispered.
North shook his head slowly.
"I do not know for certain. But we need to do what best for Jack right now."
"Yeah," Bunny nodded, shakily, "Yeah, I get you, mate."
Unbeknownst to the two Guardians, someone was listening in the shadows of the corner of the room. He waited until they had left the room before disappearing back to his lair. His expression was thoughtful as he recalled the nightmare Jack had and what the Pooka and the Russian had discussed.
"Well," Pitch smirked, "Isn't this interesting?"
After Jack had eaten (Baby Tooth once again helping him out) and still no sign of North or Bunny, Phil took Tooth and Jack to one of the yetis sitting rooms to wait.
The yeti busied himself in serving them tea and chocolate chip cookies as Tooth and Jack sat on the large sofas, before, after a gentle word from Tooth that they were fine, went back to work.
Jack soon started to doze off, resting against Tooth's shoulder. He was still jittery after his nightmare, jerking himself awake just as he was about to fall asleep.
To calm him, Tooth laid down on the sofa, pulling Jack down besides her and gently stroking his forehead. Eventually Jack calmed and finally drifted off. Baby Tooth too had settled in the nest that was Tooth's head feathers and was also snoozing quietly.
Tooth stared up at the ceiling as she continue to stroke Jack's forehead. She could remember times when, usually after pulling an all nighter, Jack would often fall asleep on her shoulder.
Normally Tooth would wake him up and try and push him off, she was usually in the middle of work.
Of course, Jack would just snort, pin her arms in a hug that she couldn't escape and pretended to go back to sleep with over exaggerated snores.
Tooth would roll her eyes and huff in exasperation. But she would smile a few seconds later and let the boy use her as a human pillow. She would figure she needed a break from work anyway. Secretly, she enjoyed those moments.
Tears filled Tooth's eyes. She thought she would never experience those moments again.
Smiling down at the boy, she softly placed a gentle kiss on his forehead, before returning her gaze to her ceiling.
If she had been still looking, she would have seen Jack's eyes watching at her with a surprised and confused expression at the motherly gesture. Then, after a few moments, he let his eyes shut again, hugging his teddy tighter to his chest.
Before he could fall back to sleep though, the door open and North and Bunny walked in. Tooth and Jack sat up, Jack rubbing his eyes. Baby Tooth poked her head out from her mother's feathers.
"Hey," Tooth greeted them softly, "Are you two okay?"
"We're fine, Shelia." Bunny replied.
Tooth could tell both didn't feel fine at all but were trying to be in front of Jack. So she didn't push it, instead turning to Jack who still looked like he needed sleep, despite his nap.
"We should get you back to the ward."
"I don't think that's a good idea, Shelia."
Tooth turned back to Bunny, frowning sternly, "Bunny, Jack needs rest."
"We know that, Tooth." North cut in, not wanting Tooth's tendency to be over protective when she was in mothering mode and Bunny tendency to be gruff when he was in, well, when he was being Bunny, to cause them to clash heads. "What Bunny is trying to say, is we do not think Jack should be in hospital ward after Pitch got in."
"It's too big." Bunny added. "Even if we were to guard the kid in there, there are just too many places for that bas...bloke to hide."
Tooth tutted when Bunny nearly slipped up and swore. Jack couldn't help but smile a little as another difference between the two universe's guardians was shown. In the other universe, Bunny would never try and cover up a swear and Tooth would never care about swearing, in fact she'd used worst.
He smiled vanished though when Bunny spoke.
"So we've cleared some of the snow out of Jack's room. You're all right with that, mate, right?"
Immediately Jack felt as if his own powers had turned against him, freezing him to spot.
No. Not that room, no, no, no, no!
He thought he could trust them! Thought they weren't going to harm him like the Guardians from his universe. Thought they weren't going to lock him in that tiny bare room with no windows and hardly room to fly about so all he could was pace and watch as the frost patterns from his feet grew and grew. The room where they beat him, starved him and leave him for days on end until he begged them that he would be good if they just let him outside for just a few moments.
The room where he saw Pitch die.
It was getting hard to breathe. Jack struggled to get his breath back, causing him to cough. The more he choked on air, the more he panicked, making it even harder to breathe.
"Frostbite? You alright?"
Jack's head snapped up to see the three Guardians, all three looking at him with wide eyes, worried and scared at his reaction.
"Easy Jack." North said, "Just breathe in...and out..."
The Russian demonstrated taking in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. Jack mimicked him, breathing in and out as North did. His breaths were unsteady at first but eventually they began to calm.
Tooth was next. Slowly she walked towards him before stopping, holding out her arms, letting Jack take the first move. He hesitated, but stepped towards her and allowed her to wrap her arms around him. Baby Tooth hopped onto his shoulder, tweeting softly as she nuzzled his cheek with hers.
"The room's nothing like what Pitch made you see." Bunny said softly, "Trust me."
Jack bit his lip. He could still feel the fear that they were going to shove him into that room bubbling inside of him. But as he felt the fairies hugged him gently and breathed as North had shown him, he felt it start to fade away into that feeling of safeness he had felt before.
"Okay."
He still felt tensed when they arrived outside of the room. Bunny had fetched his staff from the hospital ward and he clutched in tightly in his hands. His magic fizzled through his hands and his staff, Jack steeling himself in case his fears were about to be confirmed.
The three Guardians noticed Jack's apprehensive but didn't say anything. They all shared a glance at each other, confirming each other thoughts. One of the memories Pitch had twisted had something to do with Jack's room. Whether if was Pitch transforming it into a prison cell or what had happened in there or a mixture of the two, they didn't know. All they could do was just to give Jack reassuring glances and give him space so he didn't feel crowded.
Baby Tooth tweeted softly, but Jack didn't seem to hear her, eyes on the door. So she just patted the shoulder she was sitting on, hoping it would calm the winter spirit at least a little.
When Jack didn't make a move towards the door, North slowly moved forward. Knowing Jack was watching his every move – watching all of them in fact – he pushed the door open.
Jack stiffened, grip on his staff tightening. But when he saw the room, the fear left, leaving him with only confusion.
This room was much bigger than his room. While his room was more like a box than an actual room this room, whilst still modest in its size, was actually big enough for him to move about freely without ending up bumping into a wall too soon.
The walls and the floor weren't bare either like the other room. The walls and the ceiling had been painted a light blue and whilst the floor was still brown Jack could see that there was a frost covered rug spread out in the middle.
The next thing he noticed was the windows. They, like the windows out in the corridor were wide with a large window sill that he could sit on. They had been left open too, the wind flying in with bits of snow to scatter around the room for him.
Jack hadn't had a chance to think about what this wind would think of him, considering that to the entity he was a mere stranger that looked like the boy who wielded the powers of winter and flew alongside it. But as it wrapped around him, instead of anger as Jack was expecting or even mere tolerance as he had guessed, the wind felt just a friendly and protective as the wind back in the other universe had felt, giving him a comforting cool embrace before it went back to continuing to add small touches to the room to make it more welcoming.
Finally Jack noticed the furniture. That surprised him a lot, considering the other room didn't even have a bed. This room however had a large single bed, frost and snow scattered across the duvet courtesy of the wind. A handcrafted chest of drawers sat next to it, the top decorated with a couple of snow globes and ice statues. In the corner of the room was a large wardrobe, even though Jack often just wore one outfit and on the opposite side of the room from the bed was an unused fireplace, snow replacing the firewood in the grate.
"If there's too much snow in here, we can get rid of some. We had emptied the snow out the room earlier, but that wind of yours keep bringing back in." Bunny said, glaring at the direction of the whooshing sound the wind made as it huffed past him.
"What do you think Jack?" North asked.
North, Bunny and Tooth turned to him. Jack blinked, not knowing how to response. He was still in shock at the room, even if he hadn't been terrified that the room would be like the one back in the other universe, he still didn't expect so much care and effort to be put into it.
He hoped Baby Tooth would help him out but she was hovering by the wardrobe on the side of the living room. She seemed to be concentrating on something, her head titled slightly towards to wardrobe's door, and not paying attention to him or to the guardians. So instead he took a deep breath, calming himself.
"I...I like how it is."
The way the guardians beamed at him was infectious and Jack found himself smiling back.
"There is just one more thing." North said, breaking the silence and becoming serious, "Until we know for certain that Pitch can't get you again, you'll need one of us with you at all times. Is that okay?"
Jack bit his lip but nodded. "I think that's okay."
"Right. Me and North decided that I would have the first watch." Bunny said.
Tooth looked slightly disappointed and put out.
"We sorry we did not ask your opinion. But both of us has been away from work too long. Easter is still faraway so I thought Bunny could watched Jack until we took care of work and then we can decide who has next watch." North explained.
"Oh okay." Tooth said. In all honestly, she still felt disappointed but she knew she really did have to go back and check on her fairies and all of the children's teeth.
"You will look after Jack, right?" She asked Bunny.
"Of course, Shelia." Bunny said, trying his hardest not to roll his eyes.
Tooth nodded, her expression still unsure. She was about to call Baby Tooth when the little fairy flew up to Jack and settled down on his shoulder, shooting her mother a pleading look.
"Alright, you can stay." Tooth said, sighing.
Baby Tooth cheered.
"But you will have to go to work when I get back."
Baby Tooth made a squawk that sounded very much like an 'aww'.
"No buts!"
Baby Tooth huffed but agreed. Tooth smiled, relaxing a little. She felt a little reassured that one of her fairies was there to look after Jack whilst she was away.
She headed for the window but then flew back and gave Jack a quick hug.
"Be safe." She whispered.
Then she flew out the window and off to her palace.
"I'll be in my workshop if you need anything." North said, giving Jack's shoulder a squeeze. With that he left too.
"So what do you want to do?" Bunny asked.
Jack however wasn't listening. For as soon as Tooth and North had left Baby Tooth had started talking. Jack frowned, unsure if he actually understood what she was saying.
"Actually...can I just a few minutes alone?"
Baby Tooth nodded, he had heard right. But that just made him frown even more. Why did she want Bunny to leave?
"I'm not sure that's a good idea mate. With Pitch..."
"Baby Tooth can stay." Jack said, deciding to go along with Baby Tooth, despite how confused he was.
"Again, not sure if that's a good idea."
Baby Tooth squawked angrily, before huffing crossly, folding her arms.
"She said she could defend me just as easily as you could." Jack translated, "But if you preferred you could just stand outside the door.
Bunny dithered helplessly, not liking this one bit. He did not want to leave Jack on his own, especially after finding that speck of black sand under Jack's bed. But Jack probably wanted a few minutes to get used to the room after Pitch had twisted his memories of it and after finally building up some trust with the kid, Bunny didn't want that to end up being all in vain.
"Alright." He finally agreed, "Five minutes – and I'm standing outside the door."
Jack glanced at Baby Tooth who nodded. "Okay."
Bunny looked like he was going to change his mind but then he sighed and headed out the room.
As soon as the door shut, the wardrobe's doors open.
Jack froze. But then he saw who it was.
"Hey little brother."
And another cliff hanger yay :D.
*ducks as flames and tomatoes are thrown at me*
Hey! This one is a nicer cliff hanger.
*A pause. Then a cry of fury and more flames*
Oh wait this cliff hanger involves Jack Frost. Of course everyone is still angry . Crap.
NO NOT THE PITCH FORKS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Can we at least go chase Bunny he stole my chocolates? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!