This will probably be the last consecutive chapter for a while, unless I get some sort of epitome for the second half of the next chapter. So, after this, updates will PROBABLY be a few days apart from here on out. To reviews.
chocykitty- No? Well, you should post the story anyways Let me know and I'll read it. Hm, that's a good song idea. I STEAL.
sassysaw- But sleep=no update. This is a perfect example, though this is a bit earlier/shorter than usual, because I have school tomorrow.
MoonGirl1155-Yes, crazy lady does. We don't find out who she if for a while, but here's a bit more on her. And, yes, I'm glad you like my taste in music.
PCM- That is your nickname(you, with the pony avatar. Your screenname is complicated.) Thanks, try not to use the same descriptive verbs together, so I have to get creative sometimes. Glad it's working
Lokirka- Oh, my… Preach it, sister, preach it. The Cab rocks. I'm glad you caught on before ever reading the chapter. (::) cookie
The rubber soles of her boots make loud slapping noises against the floor as she ran, hair streaming behind her. Her breath heave and her heart pounded as she fled. What it was she was running from, however, she didn't know.
Inky blackness pressed against her as the silence screamed in her ears. Brief flashes of pale blue crept into her peripheral vision, but she never looked to see what was, only speeding up.
She couldn't run forever, though and, eventually, she stumbled and fell. Her hands shot out to catch herself and the force of the impact against the nothingness brought a dull sting to her palms. She flipped over to see wisps of a cold blue mist curled ominously as it drew nearer, the tendrils causing panic to rise up in her as it swirled around her.
It seemed to invade her mind as the babbled incessantly. She screamed into the darkness in a fit of hysterics as the essence of insanity seemed to take over her mind.
"He won't abandon me, he's different. I can't be alone again! No, Mother, leave me alone!" Her voice echoed loudly, but she couldn't hear it. Her eyes were glazed over and the ghostly blue swirled through the greens and grays of her eyes, too, feeding her visions of her father, mother and Jack. She teetered on the line of insanity as her father and Jack faded away slowly, leaving her alone with her mother. Words of venom spit from her mouth and, no matter how hard her hands pressed against her ears, no matter how loud she shouted, every acid word rang clearly in her head.
In addition, another voice whispered from the shadows, an unfamiliar one.
"You should listen to your mother, my dear. After all, mother knows best…"
"Who are you?! What do you want from me?!" she shouted over her mother.
"Ah, ah, careful dear. It is a very easy thing to let Insanity poison your mind. It leaves you unimaginably susceptible to the grip of hysteria." The voice's honey tone sent chills through her body, knowing it wasn't good.
She ripped from the grasp of the mist, trying to run, only to fall from an invisible edge. More panic welled within her the farther she fell, as if she could sense the bottom approaching.
At least it would be quiet.
(*)
Willow jolted awake, certain the impending doom of hitting the bottom had only been narrowly escaped. Breath heaved in and out as she caught her bearings and examined her surroundings.
The thin film of sweat coating her skin caused her hair and clothes to stick to her. She waited for Jack's shadow to cove the light of the moon through her window, but it never did. He must now have heard her.
She slipped out of bed, the chill of the floor seeping into her bare feet. She gathered up some clean clothes and slipped out of her room, wanting to shower and rid herself of the sweat and memory of the dream.
The door clicked with almost no sound, her regular treatments of WD-40 saw to that. The floor was littered with piles of garbage and smashed and empty liquor bottles. The reek of vomit infected the air with a deathly stench, having never been cleaned after the intake of too much alcohol from her mother.
The chainsaw snoring verified that she was, once again, passed out drunk, and should not hear the water running. She wouldn't wake up if World War III broke out around the house during a hurricane.
She shut the cracked bathroom door, clearing the counter of its garbage with a sweep of her arm. Peeling the stiff with sweat clothing from her body, she turned on the hot water and stepped inside, allowing the water to roll over her skin. She closed her eyes and allowed the pounding heat rush over her face, ignoring the burn of her cheek at the contact of the almost scalding water.
She scrubbed at her skin with enough force for one to thing she was trying to wash away the memory. Soap ran from her hair and body, the generic scents wafting into the room in the wisps of steam that escaped the top.
She rested her head against the cool tile, streams of water trailing off the ends of her hair and down her back. Bubbles welled around her feet before flowing down the drain. She twisted the knob and the water drizzled down until it was only a slow-dripping stream from the nozzle.
The towel skimmed across her and she dressed quickly. She rubbed as much water from her hair as she could, the rest leaving it in thick, damp strands. The stench of the house rushed to meet her the moment she left the bathroom, chill settling across her shoulder at the dampness of her hair.
The smell cut off when the door to her room closed once more, though she shivered at the lower temperature. She slid her arms into the thick sleeves of her jacket to ward off the cold, a familiar shadow covering her window. She turned to the white haired boy peering curiously into her window.
"I heard something in your house, but you weren't here when I checked before." his voice carried easily through the gap in the window.
"I was in the shower, so that was probably the water running. I can only ever shower at night, unless I want to get beaten while both wet and… exposed." she trailed off awkwardly, realizing where her statement was going a few seconds too late.
Jack suppressed a smirk at her blush, but his amusement did not last long from the weight of what she was talking about.
She sat down on her bed, bringing her knees to her chin to hold in heat, the cold beginning to get to her.
Her wet hair lay across her back and shoulders, moonlight reflecting off of the water-shiny waves. Jack drew back from the bottom of the window at her tremors, instead hovering at its top.
"Is your curiosity now sated?" Her sudden question caused his eyebrows to furrow. "The drawing." she clarified.
At the mention of it, he withdrew the sheet from the pocket of his hoodie. "Yes, it was really good, but I thought it was missing something." He unfolded the paper and held it to the glass for her to see.
Tiny crystals of frost dotted the branches where she had left the bare, accenting the drawing perfectly. Her head tilted to the side as she observed his work with a critical eye.
"It's too thick here, and here." she pointed. "It could have trailed down a bit more here, too."
He chuckled and re-folded the drawing, tucking it back into his pocket. "Sorry, I'm not an artist, I'm just the Winter guy. That's your area of expertise."
"Then you should have left the details to the expert." she smirked.
"Okay, fine, when you can put ice on your own drawings, and carry it around without it melting, I will." She rolled her eyes in response.
She was quiet for a few minutes as she considered what he said, until something occurred to her.
"Jack, how did you become a Guardian?"
He looked startled at her question. Then again, it certainly wasn't the response he expected from her, but she was full of surprises.
"I don't mean to pry, but what you said, about being able to put the frost on the drawings myself, it made me wonder how you ended up being able to." she explained.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Okay, well, um… a little over three hundred years ago, I lived here in Burgess, and I had a family. One day, I went skating with my little sister. I didn't know it at the time, but the ice had thinned out and, before I knew it, she was standing on a spider web of cracks and they were spreading fast. I tried to keep her mind off of it, act like we were playing a game. When she got close enough, I managed to hook her around the waist with, what was at the time, my staff, but it was just a stick then. I pulled her off of the broken ice, and I thought we were fine." His pale eyes dropped. "The last thing I saw was her smile, before the cracks spread and I fell through the ice. After that, I woke up and saw the moon, not remembering anything about my past life for a really long time."
She was quiet for a few minutes, until something clicked in her mind. "Is that why you get so edgy when I skate? Because you don't… oh my god, that's the pond, isn't it?"
He nodded at the sudden question and everything fell into place in her mind. She didn't ask any more questions, she simply leaned against the wall.
His shadow slipped from the light, followed by a small movement from the shadows. Her head jerked, a spark of fear at what she thought she saw.
She was too late, though, because it was gone.
(*)
Tiny trails of golden dreamsand flowed from the cloud of it, upon which the small Dream Guardian sent out for his nightly duties.
Lately, Sandy had felt something off with some of the dreamsand over Burgess. He shook his head. That town was a magnet for trouble.
He noticed in particularly with the girl Jack had brought him to. Something was interfering with her dreams. Not altering them into nightmares, as Pitch had, but suppressing them, using her dreams to instill doubt and panic. But not fear. Very little fear was present, but they seemed to be on the verge of complete hysteria inside of their own minds.
It was not very strong, so the little golden Guardian had yet to alert North, or any of the others, but it was growing stronger and he knew something had to be done soon.
The clouds of gold settled into the homes as he passed the town.
He needed to tell someone soon, before it became an issue.
(*)
"Slow down, Sandy! Pictures difficult to understand when moving so fast!" The thick Russian accent brought a more reasonable pace to the images above Sandy's head.
"Okay, something wrong with sand… someone is… covering? No, changing dreams, making children… nervous?" The peaks of Sandy's hair bobbed furiously in confirmation.
"Is not Pitch, no?"
Sandy shook his head, pictograms explaining it was panic, not fear, the children were experiencing.
"Who is girl?" he asked, seeing an older girl's face appear multiple times. Images of her dreamsand being tampered with more than the others came to life.
"So this girl is target? Does Jack know?" Sandy shook his head.
"Does this tampering of the dreams pose a threat?" North's speech became more official, resulting also in more understandable, as he grew more serious. Another head shake, but the images displayed that Pitch hadn't, either, at first, but their ignorance was almost their downfall.
"We must alert the others."
(*)
Jack was working on another kangaroo sculpture, when the streaks of light wove across the sky.
"Oh, you must be joking." he muttered, allowing the state to fall to the ground once most as he leapt into the night, winds whistling to propel him forward.
City light blurred beneath him faster and faster as he picked up speed. Landscaped changed from streaks of green pine forests to vast expanses of snow, sometime a mix of the two, as he made his way to the North Pole. The colorful lights across the sky became thicker and brighter as he neared it, knowing the others were bound to be close behind.
Flashes of varying shades of blue marked the passing of the ocean, as whitecaps of freezing water crashed in the wake of his winds. The frozen expanse of the North Pole became a white sliver on the horizon as Jack neared it.
The lights streamed a shining beacon from the top of a building straight out of Candyland. Yetis paced the building, more alert that usual from wherever reason the lights had been activated for.
Two immediately blocked Jack's path when he came up, but stepped aside when they recognized him. Brisk air whirled through the workshop at his arrival, North, Sandy and Bunny already there.
Bunny he expected, because he traveled with the Tunnels, but sandy surprised him. He usually arrived before Tooth, whom was usually the last to show.
They looked as uneasy a he felt, unsure why they would have been called together. A few minutes later, Tooth flitted in through a window, her mouth moving faster that her wings as she instructed her little Tooth Fairies. One, however, had its attention drawn elsewhere.
"Baby Tooth!" The tiny fairy squeaked, and buzzed over to his shoulder, perching there firmly.
"I am sure you are all wondering why I have called you here." North's deep voice cut the murmurs of the others and the steady stream of unintelligible words from Tooth.
"A reasonable assumption to make." Jack commented, earning a round of glare from the others.
"Sandy alerted me that someone has been tampering with the dreamsand."
Murmurs rose once again, immediately assuming Pitch, but they were quickly silenced.
"Before we jump to conclusions, Sandy does not think Pitch is responsible. He says the dreams are not being changed, but suppressed. Whatever it is, is using the dreams against them, planting ideas of panic and doubt, not fear." North's voice was much more formal that his usual discombobulated speech, meaning the situation was serious. North never spoke properly, unless he was all business.
"I know this is the obvious question, but by what?" Bunny asked, the Australian's accent sharply contrasting the Russian.
"That's what we have to find out. The only thing we know so far, is where it is the strongest." he replied.
Jack cringed and closed his eyes, knowing the answer to his question before he even asked it. "Where."
North shot him a look, answering, "Burgess."
Bunny did the rabbit's equivalent of a facepalm. "You've got to be bloody kidding me! Do you go looking for trouble, or something?" he accused, giving Jack a characteristically irritated look.
"No, I don't even know what this is about!" he held up his hands in defense.
"None of us do, Jack. That's why we're here." Tooth said, shooting Bunny a glance from his hasty accusation.
"Jack, whatever this is seems to be targeting one person in particular." North told him warily.
"Don't tell me."
Willow's face appeared in the sand over Sandy's head,
"Wait, it's going after the little sheila?" The Easter Bunny's eyes widened upon recognizing her, too. "Why would it want her?"
"Bunny, think about it. North said whatever this is wants to spread panic and doubt. You know why I asked you to bring her to the Warren. It's probably targeting her, because it thinks her mind is vulnerable." Jack told him.
"Well, we can't just let this thing get to her!"
"We won't." North's voice rumbled, cutting into their conversation. "We have to keep watch of the girl. According to Sandy, Jack has been keeping an eye on her anyways."
"Then why hasn't he figured this out yet?" Bunny asked.
"I can't see her dreams and it's not like I can see this outside of them." He stopped and considered his words, before restating. "Wait, no, there was this weird, I don't know, pale blue fog crawling over her dreamsand the other night. Is that what you were talking about, Sandy?"
The little Guardian shrugged, images saying that he didn't know what it was, just that it was something.
"Well, it is the best lead we have. Bunny, you and Jack take turns watching. Tooth and Sandy have bust schedule, but you two can guard her."
"Now wait just a minute, mate, I'm just as worried about the girl as the next Guardian, but my eggs-"
"Can paint themselves, and you know it. Perhaps less interestingly, but can all the same. The safety of the girl is the priority." North told him firmly.
Bunny wanted to argue, but couldn't, because he knew he was right.
"Wake the girl if this blue fog returns, she does not need to be subjected to this." Jack frowned at his command.
"Now, wait a second. We can't wake her up every time this happens! She has to sleep at some point." he said, but North did not relent.
"We cannot risk this threat taking hold of her. Wake her every few minutes if you have to, but she cannot fall prey to this." he said, not backing down.
Jack was not happy, but, ultimately, North had the final say-so when it came to matters with the Guardians.
But he was right about one thing. This thing was not going to pull her into its trap.
(*)
Willow was huddled in a ball on her bed, eyes darting around nervously. She knew something was there, but every time she looked, it was gone.
But it was there.
Memories of her past spiraled through her head, horrifying images of those little dolls lurking everywhere. Most of them had resembled her father after he had been killed in Afghanistan, taking the form of, what resembled, poppets from the Wiccan culture.
They had stopped appearing years ago, and she had thought that was the end of it. Why were they coming back now?
Her hand shook as she reached for her bedside lamp, fumbling to turn on the light. The soft yellow glow filled the room, the shadows brightening and the panic dampening in her chest.
She scooted hesitantly off of her bed, going to her window and slipping out into the frigid night in an attempt to escape the hallucinations.
She expected Jack to be there almost immediately, but he was nowhere to be seen.
''Jack?" she whispered loudly, but she was met with no answer.
He wasn't in the oak tree that he usually sat in, and the doubt began slipping into her mind once again.
Did he leave me? No, he wouldn't, he promised. But then, where is he?
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Jack wouldn't leave her. he was a Guardian, he probably had something important to do.
Her boots crunched the snow, steering her to the park, though she didn't realize it until she was almost halfway there. She looked into the sky to see the faint trails of fading Northern Lights.
That's funny, you usually can't see the Lights this far in the south she thought.
Shadows cast by the bare trees raked across the snow with their spindly black arms, an intricate network of lines tracing the snow.
They seemed to stretch towards her as she walked, trying to grab her with fingers of darkness. but they couldn't be, that was ridiculous.
Right?
And that's it for now, another cliffhanger. Also, I have a Tangled reference in there.
Sorry to cut it short(and for the shorter chapter), but I have to go, before I am grounded for still being on the computer.
Night, y'all.