Holy freaking crap, I can fly. How the hell did that happen?
The Moon, duhh.
I tried to gather my bearings, and figure out just how the hell I actually fly. And after a few moments of contemplation, I decided that my best move was to just doggy paddle in mid air. Which surprisingly worked, albeit awkwardly and slowly, and soon my feet were firmly planted back on the cold floor of the workshop. Where I was met with the stares of the Guardians, plus Jack.
"Ok I know you guys will want an explanation but I have no damn idea what just happened."
"How can you have no bloody idea what happened?" Bunny narrowed his eyes at me.
"Dude, like just ten minutes ago you saw me appear as a literal ball of light. For me, today has just been a massive, confusing shitstorm from start to finish and you lot have no fucking idea how lucky you are that I haven't fainted yet from all this overwhelming bullshit. So pipe the fuck down and lets move on."
He glared at me, mumbling something under his breath.
"Then we should continue with Jacks initiation." Tooth offered.
"I don't want to be a freaking Guardian!" Jack basically yelled. He flew off towards the higher balconies, leaving behind a light sprinkle of snow that nestled in our hair and eyelashes. Tooth looked like she was about to go after him. But before she could, I spoke,
"I'll go see if he's okay, it would be best if it came from a neutral party. It would seem that he doesn't want to talk to any of you guys. You saw how much he was opposed to being a Guardian."
And I guess I just want to talk to him. He's pretty damn cute.
I took off after Jack, trying out a kind of freestyle/breaststroke hybrid that while being faster than the doggy paddle, was so tiring that by the time I got to Jack I was severely out of breath. I took a few moments to calm down, bent over with my hands resting on my knees. From where I stood I could see him brooding, a slight frown on his forehead and a small, highly adorable pout. He noticed I was there, but didn't look at me,
"I don't care what you say, I'm not going back down there."
"Nah dude don't worry, I'm not here to convince you to do anything. Just came to check that you're okay." I panted in between each few words.
He chuckled slightly,
"Well, it's nice to know that there is at least one person here that isn't trying to change me, or make me into something else," he paused, "And it sounds like you need a rest, I've never heard someone be so out of breath."
I glared at him, "Oi, you better shut it before things get ugly. And while I no longer think you deserve to hear this, I'm gonna say it anyway so shut up and listen," I calmed down my breathing, "Even if I could change you Jack, I would never do that, I think you are pretty freaking awesome as you are, even though you can be kind of a dick."
He finally turned his head and looked at me, where sat like that for a very short while, before breaking into an adorably crooked smile,
"Thank you, Claire"
I sat down next to him, "It's okay! Now, how about a little race. The first person to get an elf and fly back here wins!"
"I'm in, but the loser has to do a favour for the winner, of the winner's choosing."
"Deal. 3, 2, 1, GO!"
I took off quickly, leaving Jack behind for a short moment, before he followed me. We were neck and neck when we made it to the Factory floor, but I couldn't see any elves, only a large amount of yetis. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, I heard a faint jingle of a bell. I followed the noise until I finally saw what I needed. Less like a eagle, and more like a toy helicopter operated by a child, I awkwardly half fell, half hovered down and scooped up an elf that was in the middle of devouring a plate of biscuits. I flew back to the balcony as quickly as I could, only to see that Jack was already there, holding a rather dazed elf
"Looks like I win!" Jack said victoriously.
"Damn it." I pouted
He laughed. It was nice to hear him laugh, and I found myself laughing along with him. The more we laughed, the more insane the laughter became.
Our laughter-fest was interrupted by the sound of panic from a few floors down. Suddenly, Bunny bounced over the edge,
"There's trouble at the Tooth Palace, we need Jack to come with us. Claire, stay here."
Pitch.
"C'mon! Bunny, mate, let me come. Please?" I clasped my hands together.
"We can't take you, you are just a mortal. You could get hurt."
"I can fly, remember? I'll be fine, and you guys might need the help."
Bunny didn't need much convincing, "Ok then, just try not to get into trouble, okay?"
"Aight!"
The three of us all went back down to the other Guardians, who were rushing to the sleigh. Bunny was unsure, but North threw him in. I took a seat next to Jack, and we were off. It was the most fun thing I have ever ridden. After a few twists and turns, not to mention the insane loops, we shot out into the open air. North tossed a snow globe, creating a portal to the Tooth Palace.
When we came out the other end, there was a shower of black smoke coming towards us. Luckily Sandy could make a golden umbrella out of sand, whereas I had to dive onto the floor of the sleigh to avoid getiing hit. Then Jack noticed something,
"They're taking the fairies!" He flew up and only just managed to snatch one before it was eaten by one of the dark smoke horses.
We landed at the Palace to find Tooth absolutely freaking out, and understandably so.
"They've taken everything! The teeth and the fairies!"
Then, the sound of malicious laughter filled the Palace, and we saw him, Pitch Black.
"Well, if it isn't the Big Four" he smirked "And Jack Frost"
Pitch then suddenly disappeared, it was only when he spoke when I knew where he was. Directly behind me,
"Who do we have here? Not a Guardian, surely." I jumped at how close he sounded, as if his mouth was mere centimetres from my ear.
"Bitch." I spun around, ready to punch him in his face, but he disappeared again. Reappearing back near the Guardians, who then proceeded to fight him. I attemped to make my way to where they were, and after a minute or so, I made it.
As soon as I arrived, I leapt into what should have been a flying kick, strongly aided by my newfound flying ability, but instead was something significantly less impressive. But the momentum was enough to send me rapidly approaching Pitch with my outstretched leg, my foot ready to cause some serious damage. I was glad to see that he was distracted enough by the bombardment of attacks from the others that he didn't even notice until it was almost too late. Almost.
Unlucky for him he didn't have time to properly dodge.
Lucky for me that, while I was somewhat aiming for the side of his head, I still managed to clip his nose. Which caused a loud cracking sound that caused even the Guardians to cringe.
And it was as I stumbled into a landing that I heard a loud cry, and I turned to see Pitch covering his nose with his hands, dark blood streaming between the fingers.
"YOU BROKE MY NOSE!"
"Oh my god really? I'm so sorry, I totally didn't mean to do that!" I said sweetly, "I was actually aiming for the side of your head but I fucked up!"
Pitch turned his head to glare at me, and he started to walk towards me, but paused as he saw the others start to surround him. He stepped backwards and disappeared in a cloud of black sand, but not before giving me one last glare. As soon as he left the others turned to me,
"You...you broke his nose." Bunny managed to get out.
"Well yeah, it didn't seem like you guys were doing much damage so I officially decided that I needed to intervene." I shrugged.
"B-but, you broke his nose." Santa looked shocked.
I looked at each of them one by one, trying to find someone who wasnt speechless.
"Y'know I was kinda hoping for a different reaction, like 'OMG Claire that was so fucking metal the way you broke his nose like damn son!'" I sighed, "But of course not. Now lets go and get those damn teeth and fairies back."
They nodded, and started to make their way to the mural as I followed. As we were walking, Jack matched his pace with mine, and walked alongside me. After a few moments he leaned in,
"Hey Claire, I think it was totally metal that you broke Pitch's nose. Whatever 'metal' means"
"I know right! Like I've broken a few noses in my time but that one was definitely the most" I clenched my fist, "satisfying."
"Whose noses have you broken before?" His eyes widened.
"Well when I was seven there was this really horrible girl in my class, we're talking a full grade-A bitch, and one day she was talking shit about my best friend so I punched her. Yeah, I got suspended for that one. Then when I was thirteen I was playing baseball during phys-ed class, and I was batting. The pitcher threw the ball and I hit it, and it flew right into this guys face. I apologised and bought him a frozen coke from Maccas the weekend after to make amends. We were good friends after that."
We hadn't noticed that by this point that we had reached the mural. Completely exhausted, I sat down under a tree as Jack wandered over to Tooth, who sat nearby.
Tooth then started telling Jack all about why she collects the teeth, and what they mean. It was then that Jack found out about his teeth, and who had them. After some talking, which I didn't pay attention to, because I already knew what they were saying. They came up with the plan to collect the teeth.
"Can I come?" I asked hopefully.
"I don't see why not!" North smiled
This is going to be epic.