Many years later the Guardians gathered in the pole, watching as the Man in the Moon chose a new Guardian.
They were all confused at who he chose.
They were confused at the sight of a young figure hidden beneath a long coat with the head pulled up. They looked at each other wondering who on earth they were looking at. Finally North asked the question.
"Manny, Who is this? I don't recognise him."
A snowflake surrounded by something resembling frost was his answer. This just stumped them even more. It took them three hours to realise who it was. And It shocked Bunny.
"JACK FROST?!" Bunny roared, startling North, Tooth and Sandy out of their thoughts.
"Bunny, we did not actually see him die. We-" He was cut off as a Baby tooth flew in. She spotted her queen and flew to her side. She began to tweet and squeak hurriedly and Tooth jumped to her feet.
"North there's trouble at Burgess Lake. Pitch is fighting that thing." She said worry in her mind as she pointed at the Guardian crystal, still highlighted under the moons gaze. The light got brighter before it faded and the crystal lowered back underneath the floorboards.
The Guardians leapt to their feet and North wasted no time in opening a portal to Burgess's oldest lake. When they landed minutes later, they were startled with what they saw.
The hooded figure stood over Pitch, an Ice dagger in his hand as he swung down with an impressive speed and stabbed the Nightmare King in the stomach, causing the Fear king to fall back onto the ice with a shriek and a loud thud. Pitch screamed out and threw his nightmares at the figure, blasting him off his body. The figure flew back and hit a tree. His head dropped towards his chest as Pitch disappeared, most likely to nurse his wounds.
The Guardians hurried towards the figure, stopping as the figures head shot up. ThegGroup could feel the creatures flicker to each of them. It seemed to lock its gaze on Bunny and without a moment of hesitation, it leapt at him, punching him in the face repeatedly. The Pooka struck back, causing the figure to go flying back.
It slammed against the tree once again and a horrible ripping sound echoed around the lake as the figures head rolled forward onto its own motionless lap.
A heavily scarred face looked up at them, blue eyes looking up underneath locks of pure white hair. Some flesh was missing from the young boy's cheek and his lips were sealed with surgical thread, his right eye being held in by a few hastily done stitches stretching from his eyebrow ridge to the tip of his cheek just below the eye socket, the eye seemingly out of his socket. The stitched mouth only added to the horror that was Jack Frost. The eyes narrowed at the Pooka as the body suddenly moved beneath him, taking the head in its hands and standing. Tooth promptly fainted.
"Jack Frost, da?" North asked, moving between the two beings. The stitched up boy moved his gaze from the Pooka to the old Russian Cossack Warrior. He nodded at North's question before a questioning look came over his face.
"Man in Moon wishes for you to be Guardian." North told him. A look of irritation came over the boys face in response. He shook his head and gestured to his face. When North looked confused he pulled out a tattered, filthy notebook and debilitated pencil from his messenger bag, hidden under the cloak. He scribbled something on the parchment, scratching words out occasionally and turned it towards the conscious Guardians.
What child would want to look and believe in me? I'm Hideous.
The handwriting was as ancient as the notebook, with fluid cursive like calligraphy littering the paper.
The boy looked down at his cloak, away from the Guardians. Sandman flew up to the boy's head and took it in his hands. The boy looked at him and gasped as Sandman kissed his forehead, smiling.
"Jack, we will fix you. I have large library. We can help fix your body. Just come with us." North explained to him. He watched as Jack seemed to think before his gaze flickered back to his body, which was now writing. When the body was done, it turned towards North.
Are you serious? You can fix me? I don't want to be like this anymore!
Santa Claus nodded and smiled down at him. He gestured for Bunny to lift up Tooth and for Sandy to give Jack's body his head back. Bunny lifted the warrior queen into his furred arm and blushed as the queen unconsciously leaned into the body carrying her. Sandy tucked the head into the crook of Jack's arm.
When they were ready and Jack had made sure he had all of his parts, North threw a globe and a spiralling portal appeared. Jack looked startled and a little bit unsure. He looked at Sandy who took his hand and led him through the portal behind everyone else.
The Portal spat them out and Jack, unused to landing from portal, collapsed gasping in pain at the strain the journey had on his skin and stitches. The stitches holding his eye in place had snapped in the journey and he scrambled to find it. He looked each way and spotted his eye in the possession of an Elf who spotted him approaching him, licked the eye and fled out the nearest doorway, causing his body (with his head in its arms) to chase after him, Sandy and North following him to make sure he didn't get lost. Jack ran after the elf, down stairs and through vast corridors. Sandy managed to keep track of him using his sand; whereas North had to stop to catch his breath about ten minutes into the chase. He told the Sandman to bring Jack to the infirmary after he had gotten his eye back.
Jack eventually cornered the eye thief elf and snatched his eye back. Eventually he noticed how quiet it had gotten around him; compared to the racket he had heard during the chase down the hallway and looked away from the corner to the rest of the hallway. Furred creatures peered out of the doors lining the hallways, their eyes confused and some fearful of the cloaked being. Sensing fear the boy shifted his head into the folds of his cloak and pulled the hood up placing the eye into his medical pouch, where many of his parts lay for the time being. He allowed the sand to guide him, gentle tugs on the cloak being enough to steer him back to the infirmary. Upon entering the Infirmary, the sand tugged him forward and Jacks body pulled Jacks head out of the folds and into the room as he felt the change of temperature change from being rather warm to just above freezing. He noticed that North and Sandy were waiting patiently by one bed.
"Jack, we want to patch you up so to speak. But we need to check all of the stitches and re do them if necessary. Will you allow us to do so?" North asked, slowly not wishing to startle the boy. Jack didn't know where the Rabbit humanoid being was but he didn't really care. Jacks body leaned forward and back in his motion of a nod.
"Can you remove your clothing? It will make it easier." North queried gently, standing up from his chair. Jack seemed to freeze in place at the request before complying slowly with barely restrained fright. His head was placed down on the nearest bed as his body began to remove the clothing covering his hideous body.
The cloak was discarded, revealing his teenage untoned figure quickly followed by his shirt and trousers. He was left standing in his undergarments as gasps filled the room. Jack seemed to flinch at the sound.
If he still had tear glands, they would be active right now. Jack was so disgusted of his body.
"J-Jack come lay on the bed in the light." North quivered, trying to maintain some order in his now startled mind. The body complied, lifting Jacks head and moving to the light-covered bed and laying down. The Body placed the head on the pillow before lying down and lining itself up with the head.
Under the bright light, Jacks body was horrific.
His chest was open, leaving his ribs and most of his organs visible to the outside light, shadows cast over the empty places in the body. His legs were marred with animal bites and stab wounds. His feet were worse, with at least three toes missing on the left foot and one on the right. Raggedly done stitches were barely holding the foot onto the debilitated leg. His arms were also missing flesh, his left hand even missing a few fingers.
Looking closer at the chest, he noticed that a vital organ was missing.
"Jack… Where is your heart?" the startled and slightly nauseated Russian asked. The boy avoided his gaze as his body pointed towards the messenger bag on the floor. Sandy hovered over to it lifting it up and floated back over to it. He tipped the contents of the bag onto the bed and flew back as a blackened and very dead heart dropped from the bag, along with the missing pieces of flesh and limb. This was around the time that Bunny walked into the room.
If it was possible, he would have gone green.
He approached the bed slowly, as North composed himself and threaded the nearby needle with a tougher surgical thread. Starting with the boy's head, he gently sewed the boy back together.
Three rolls of surgical thread later, the boy was relatively whole again and each section of sewed, dead or dying flesh was wrapped in bandages. North removed the frightening stitches from the boys face and pushed the boy's eye back into the socket, before wrapping the whole side of his face in bandages. Ad throughout it all, Jack made no noise, Only stared straight ahead.
The Pooka had to leave the room multiple times, to prevent himself from hurling all over the poor boy. When the dead boy was finally patched and sewn up he sat up on the bed and tested the stitches. They held better than his own and he smiled his thanks at the Russian.
Sandy used his dream-sand to put the boy into sleep, having already seen the boy's eyes beginning to drop from the events of the day.
Questions could wait till tomorrow.
Authors note: Thank-you to all who reviewed, followed and favourite last chapter!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I apologise if the lips thing confused anyone in either this or last chapter. If you need something clarified, just PM me and I'll put it in the next chapter.
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