Chapter 16
The Guardians stared down at the girl that lay in the snow.
She was very pale, sickly so. Her short choppy hair was dark and made her look even paler. She was slightly too thin to be healthy. Under her pea coat she wore a black and white stripped shirt and a knee length black skirt, over which she wore an apron.
Jack stared down at her in shock. He recognized the way she looked fro her description of herself she had given him.
"Alice!" he yelled, shaking her shoulders gently, not caring if Sanderson heard her name. "Alice!" he called again.
Alice stirred and opened her eyes and glared at him. "There is no need to shout," she said in annoyance.
"Who is shouting?" asked St. North.
Alice's head snapped around at that, and she and Jack stared at the Cossack in shock.
"You heard me?" she asked him.
"And can see you as well," said Bunnymund, looking down at he in interest. "I am assuming you are Miss Lis."
Alice gaped up at them. Then current events caught up to her and she pushed herself to her feet, swaying slightly.
Jack caught her before she fell back over, and she had to lean onto him for support. The Guardians who couldn't see Jack thought it was very odd to see her lean against nothing.
"Where is the Dollmaker?" she demanded. "Where is he?"
The Guardians exchanged looks. "He got away," said Toothiana.
"WHAT?" shrieked Alice.
She pushed away from Jack, but she barely took a step before falling forward again, and Jack caught her a second time.
Alice shook her head to clear it. "What is wrong with me?" she asked.
"Besides that they can now see you?" asked Jack. He didn't know how to break it to Alice about her change in appearance.
Sanderson took that matter into his own hands, and held out the mirror to Alice. She took the mirror and looked into it. She paled at the sight of her reflection, and dropped the mirror, which shattered on the ice.
"I look like I used to," she said, her voice weak. "Like I did before I…" Her eyes widened in horror. "He was right! He really is draining me!" Alice looked devastated by the realization. "What have I done," she whispered.
She had failed again, and now the Dollmaker was using her to wreak havoc onto the world.
"Not for long," said Jack with determination. "We'll find him, and we'll stop him. Then we'll find a way home. We'll get through this, I promise you."
His words brought her no comfort. Alice remained still and silent as the Guardians bandaged up the hostage girl and returned her to her home, and remained silent during the sleigh ride back to the North Pole.
As they flew back to the Pole, Jack felt useless. He couldn't be seen, heard, or touched by most of his friends. He was in a time that was not his own, and once again without any believers. And worst of all, he couldn't protect Alice from the Dollmaker, and that hurt most of all.
He could see the effect the monster's words were having on Alice's guilt. The Dollmaker's purpose in life was to destroy Alice, and from the looks of things he was succeeding without even lifting a finger.
Jack couldn't let that happen. If words weren't giving any comfort to Alice, then maybe actions would.
Jack stood on the very edge of the sleigh as they flew through the clouds. The moon was bright and full as he looked up at it. He could practically feel the Man in the Moon's attention focus on him as he stood in its glow.
"Is there anyway you could help me out with this?" he asked the ancient spirit who had, and would one day save him from an icy grave. "She shouldn't have to go through this alone. Can you please help me help her?"
The moon seemed to shine brighter on Jack for a bit, catching the other Guardians attention.
Then to their surprise a boy with brown hair and a blue hooded shirt and holding a staff could be seen standing on the edge of the sleigh with his back to them, looking up into the moonlight.
St. North nearly dropped his reigns in his surprise at the new arrival in his sleigh.
"Who are you?" he yelled, making the boy jump in surprise.
The Guardians all yelled in horror as the boy's jump sent him falling from the sleigh. Toothiana and Bunnymund rushed to the edge and peered down to see if they could spot him falling, and perhaps catch him.
When Jack fell off the sleigh he quickly used the wind to right himself in the air. As it did Jack's hair brushed in front of his eyes. Startled by what he saw, he pinched the hair between his fingers and pulled it down in front of his eyes. Instead of it's usual white his hair was now brown. Seeing that, he was willing to bet his blue eyes were now brown.
Realizing what the moon must have done, he pulled his hood up, and flew back up to the sleigh. When he reached the edge he saw Bunnymund and Toothiana peering over the edge.
He couldn't help but smirk at the sight. "Aw, you do care," he said cheerfully, bringing everyone's attention to him as he hopped back into the sleigh.
"Ja-Jay," Alice caught herself just in time, before revealing his name. She reached out and touched his face. "Your hair! Your eyes!"
Jack shrugged. "Manny did it, I think. My powers are still here, so I think it's just my appearance."
"But why-?" asked Alice, still startled by the change.
Jack grabbed her hand and said with determination, "Because you aren't going though this alone. I'm here, and I'm going to help you. We will stop the Dollmaker. I promise."
Alice stared at him, and slowly the barest trace of a smile touched her lips. She couldn't remember the last time anyone had done anything like this for her. Despite her lingering depression, to see that Jack still cared felt nice.
The Guardians watched this go on, and were able to piece together what happened by what was said.
"Manny?" asked St. North suddenly. Ruining the moment between the two teens.
Jack and Alice quickly pulled away from each other. They pointedly ignored the knowing looks Sanderson and Toothiana had shared before glaring at St. North for his interruption.
Jack cleared his throat before answering. "Uh, yeah, the Man in the Moon. We call him Manny for short."
"Manny," said St. North again, as if testing out the name. "Hmm, is good nickname, much easier than Man in Moon. Manny it is."
Above them the moon shone a little brighter.
But unknown to any of the sleigh's occupants, a small Slithering Ruin was latched to the bottom of the sleigh. It would soon lead its master to Alice's little hid-a-way. Then she would suffer even more.
*A*A*A*
When they arrived back at the Pole, Katherine and Nightlight were waiting for them. The two were surprised to see two new faces in the sleigh when it touched down, but were quite interested to find that they were the two spirits, turned more human in order to be seen. However with their group of Guardians recuperating at the Pole, the two decided to go to Santoff Claussen to keep Ombric company and protect their home village.
Bunnymund had looked over Jack when they reached the ground and concluded that Jack's change in appearance was due to a glamour spell the Man in the Moon had cast on him. Because of this, Jack need not worry about being recognized by the other Guardians, as it would prevent tat from happening.
Meanwhile, Alice was not doing very good. Now that she knew what to look for, she could feel the steady drain of her strength and power slipping away with each passing second, leaving her feeling cold and tired.
She found that she could still use her powers and weapons somewhat. Her gliding was now rickety, and her butterfly dodges did not go as far anymore. When she tried to use the Teapot Cannon or Hobby Horse, she found they were too heavy for her to lift. Her Jacks fell flat when she tossed them, and the croquet ball did not fly as far when she hit it. She did not even attempt to use the Demon Dice, for fear of what it could unleash.
When the Guardians asked how Alice and the Dollmaker were connected, she only told them that the Dollmaker was something an enemy of hers had created by stealing some of her power.
The Guardians accepted this (especially when Bunnymund had insisted that they shouldn't know anymore), and set about planning to track down the monster again.
But it seemed the Dollmaker had gone into hiding. Not a sign of him could be seen through the telescope, nor by the news the moonbeams brought.
Alice took the lack of news hard, but she likely would have taken it harder if it wasn't for Jack.
The winter spirit had made it his job to keep her sprits up as much as possible. At nights when Alice couldn't sleep from fear that she wouldn't wake up again, he would sit up with her and entertain her with stories both of his life, and of things he'd heard of. To keep her from moping in the day, he kept dragging her into the games he played with the village children. Alice found it was impossible to say 'no' when there were so many hopeful faces looking up at her.
The village children came to adore them both very quickly. Jack was in his element. Playing games with the kids was what he did best, and he was able to teach them some games that had not been invented yet. And Alice had the imagination to come up with fun things that not even Jack could think up with. This made her very popular with the children, who had been raised to value imagination above all else.
The Guardians also grew used to their presence. Despite Bunnymund's insistence, St. North kept trying to trick the teens into telling him more about his future, Alice never fell for it, but Jack made a game of it. He would tell St. North outlandish things and see how long it took for the Cossack to figure out he was pulling his leg. The ex-bandit would laugh when he'd realized he was being fooled, but it would not detour him from trying again.
Bunnymund, on the other hand, took great extremes to keep away from them 'to preserve the timeline.' This of course made Jack try to cross paths with him as much as possible in order to see the flustered Pooka try to flee his presence. He also loved to poke fun at Bunnymund's social awkwardness and serious personality. He found the bewildered look on the Pooka's face hilarious when Jack told him to 'let him know if he ever needed help getting theat stick removed.' Jack half hoped he was nowhere near when the large rabbit figured out the joke.
Toothiana, on the other hand, bonded with Alice. The Fairy Queen knew what it was like to be perused constantly by someone who wanted to destroy her. The two developed their own form of girl talk, which consisted of talking about knives, swords, and other bladed weapons they had an interest in. This left anyone who was in earshot of the conversation quite terrified.
Sanderson has living proof that some things never changed. He was very much the same as he was in the future, still silent, friendly, and welcoming as ever. He never gave any indication to the other Guardians about Jack and Alice's real names, or any of the other things he would sometimes here them say to each other about future events. Instead he gave them warm smiles and laughed at Jack's jokes.
Things went like that for three days. In that time nothing changed. No children went missing. No Ruin was seen. The only thing that happened was Alice slowly getting weaker by the day.
But that all changed on the third day, in the distance beyond the evergreen forest the snow began turning black as Ruin spread across it. An army ranging from Colossal Ruin to Bitch Babies came stalking towards the village in droves.
Rising above them the Dollmaker strode towards the village with confidence. It was clear he had no fear of being stopped, and was intent on destroying the Guardians' new shining village.
St. North sounded the alarms and sent the yetis to the defense stations to protect the village.
Alice and Jack evacuated the children of the village to Bunnymund's eggomotive to sent them to the safety of Santoff Claussen.
Once the last child was on the egg-shaped train, the two teens ran to the edge of the evergreen forest and watched as the Dollmaker and his army drew closer.
Alice brought out her knife, and held it at the ready. She would not fail this time.
*A*A*A*
A/N The big battle is next chapter. Also, the spell on Jack right now keeps him from being recognized by the Guardians, that is why they never make the connection between the spirit Jay and Jack Frost.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.