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Last Time:

Far away, in a cavern deep under the surface of the earth, the King of Nightmares was perched on his chair in his throne room. He held the same position he had been in for nearly a week. Every once in a great while, an ashen thumb would run across a long crooked stick that was laid across his lap. Shadows flitted to and fro about the room, tending to him and feeding him little bits of information that their cousins hidden in the North Pole had gathered. Since the moment they carted the winter spirit into the workshop, Pitch had been flooding the not-so-secret-hideout with his shadow dwellers, filling every dark corner that its many rooms held. But they did not attack. Not even when the Guardian of Dreams had destroyed one of their own. No, the time for attacking had not yet come. So they waited patiently and silently, and let the golden dreams have their last hurrah.

Soon they wouldn't be sleeping so peacefully.

Time to come home, Jökul.

Chapter 12: The Drums of War

Mother Nature went about her business as quickly as possible, calming the most tumultuous of storms where they were not needed and causing some in places where they were. The seasons were set in their proper boundaries, the plates of the surface of the earth checked to ensure they were in their suitable placements and the various other duties entrusted to her by the Moon were finished, all in record time. She was back at the pole before three hours had passed.

Jack was awake when she arrived, sitting up in the bed and watching the door expectantly. He smiled when he saw her, though her regal appearance had become a bit disheveled after her attempts to keep the world spinning correctly. She smiled back and took a seat beside his bed. Aster was sitting off to the side, watching her with grass green eyes twinkling and long whiskers twitching.

"Thank you, Aster," Mother Nature said, sending a nod in the rabbit's direction. He nodded back in reply. "When did he wake?"

"'Bout twenty minutes ago."

Mother Nature nodded curtly. "Again, you have my thanks." The unspoken portion of that sentence was not lost on the Guardian of Hope. Her gratitude was for more than just watching a sleeping sprite for a few hours.

"Anytime, Sheila. How's the world lookin'?"

"Ordered and balanced."

"That's good."

She nodded again and supplemented it with a smile before turning back to her winter child.

"Did you have a nice nap, Jack?"

He smiled back at her. She returned it and took to situating the blankets around him smoothing down his hair. It was a bit unruly after sleeping on it for so many days without even a thought about a bath. But at least it was still white. It had become a rarity that his hair wasn't full of black sand while he was with Pitch.

Seraphina shook her head slightly to force out the memories. Jack was here now, and he didn't seem to be dwelling on the past half as much as she did. Then again, he still hadn't said a word since his rescue so there was no way for her to tell what topics ran across his thoughts. Surely his first three hundred years of existence had made at least one appearance.

The gurgling of the boy's stomach pulled her from her thoughts.

"Are you hungry, Jack?" She asked.

The boy merely shrugged. Hungry to him was not the pangs of physical need. Those came and went far too often to be considered hunger. No, hunger to Jack was the feeling of life draining from his body and legs that could no longer hold his weight from the weakness that comes from lack of sustenance. So no, Jack was not hungry in the least. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't eat something if it were offered. Meals were too far and few between to pass one up.

"Your tummy says you are," Seraphina continued, meeting his gaze.

He just smiled and shrugged again.

"E' did the same thing whin ah asked 'im that a few minutes ago," Aster called out. "Ah sent fer a little sumthin' fer 'im. Should be 'ere any minute."

Mother Nature nodded and smiled as Jack perked up at the mention of something to eat. A few minutes later, a she-yeti came into the room with a tray. On it was a bowl of porridge fixed up with little mountains of sugar and streams of cream and a cup of milk to wash it down. She put the tray at the end of the bed and retreated back to the doorway. Hearty chuckles resounded in her chest as she watched the sprite spring off the pillow and try to reach for the bowl. Mother Nature put a stop to that attempt, settling him back against the pillows and bringing the tray to him so he wouldn't strain his stitches.

The she-yeti watched as the boy dug into the cereal, shoving entire spoonfuls into his mouth and returning for more even before he had swallowed the first. Mother Nature attempted to placate the frenzy, but she could not control this universal truth of nature any more than she could curb his powers. He ate over half of the bowl before he slowed down to take a few breaths. Seraphina took that opportunity to snatch away the bowl, quieting his sounds of discontent with the cup of milk. He drank from that greedily too until Mother Nature could manage to coax it away from him. A discontented sigh was all she got in return.

"Jack, there is plenty of food here. Anytime you want to eat, someone will bring you food. There is no need to eat so fast, you'll only make yourself sick. You must pace yourself. I'm sure half of what you've just inhaled hasn't even made it to your stomach yet! How full do you think you're going to feel when it all settles in?"

He looked up at her with eyes full of remorse.

Her expression softened. "I'm not angry with you Jack, I just don't want you to make yourself sick." She sighed when all he did was pick at the hem of his shirt in reply. She lifted his chin so their eyes could meet. The grip was not harsh, so he did not fight it. "You are very young still, child, and there is much about this world you do not know...much that I would love to show you. But, you must heed my wisdom until the time comes that you yourself become wise to it," she told him.

He smiled a little at that and the hand that gripped his chin moved to stroke the side of his face. He nuzzled into it and she dropped a kiss on his brow before fussing over his hair once more. The she-yeti, sensing that the food was no longer required, lumbered over to the bedside table and began collecting the dishes. Mother Nature looked up at her and expressed her thanks, brow creasing as she looked on the darkened bruising around the creature's eyes. Green eyes widened in the realization of who this yeti was when she turned to leave and a neat row of stitches was revealed under her furry arm.

"My dear creature," Mother Nature called as the yeti turned to leave. "How brave you must be to come here after what trials befell you." This was the she-yeti that Jökul had thrown into a wall. "And what strength you must possess to already be on your feet," the woman praised.

The she-yeti rumbled out a reply of thanks in her gravely language.

Bunny stood and took the tray from her hands. "Ya really shouldn't be outa bed, Esther," He said. "Ya gave us quite a scare an' it's not quite time fer ya ta be back at it."

The piqued reply was easily understood. "Someone has to feed the child, he's naught but skin and bones! And neither of you knows what sorts of things children like to eat."

Bunny scoffed at that. "Kids like chocolate! Ah give 'em that e'ery yeah."

Esther snorted indignantly. "This one needs more than chocolate, Aster."

"Thah he does. But e'en so, please rest up, one ah the others cin get 'im food until yer healthy."

The yeti's response, though shrouded in a growling voice, was one that shocked Mother Nature. "I want to be the one to feed him."

"Why?" Mother Nature asked. "Why even come near him when you nearly died the last time you were with him?"

"Because I don't blame him for what he has no control over. I do not fear him, I want to protect and heal him. In his youth he has suffered far more than I did in the dusk of my life. I cared for him when he was filled with evil, I will care for him now when he is empty, and I will continue to care for him even after he is full of light. That is my duty and I will fulfill it in any way I can."

Mother Nature could think of no eloquent reply, so she pressed her lips together and dipped her head in validation of the other female's answer. Esther nodded in return and took the dishes from the room. Upon her return, she waited for the boy to fall asleep before shooing the other two spirits out to get some sleep while the moon was still high in the sky. She sat with the boy for a number of hours, washing his face and neck with a washcloth and cleaning his healing wounds. Her hands were gentle and he did not wake.

When Mother Nature returned a few hours later, Ester went to bed. This cycle continued for a number of days; any time Mother Nature had to leave or rest, Esther would come and sit with him. Strangely enough, Mother Nature felt more at ease knowing the she-yeti was watching over her Jack in her absence than she did when even Aster was guarding him with a protective eye. There was little that the injured yeti could do to ward off an attack, yet in the still and quiet of the pole there was no need for a warrior to guard her boy. A mothering hand was far more appropriate.

Jack healed in leaps and bounds in the week that followed his rescue. With Esther's help, he began to walk again on the third day; two days later, he had free range of the pole, walking with only one hand to steady himself against the wall and all of his attention on the wonders all around him.

Mother Nature was quite proud of him and she spent her evenings looking around the pole to find wherever he had ended up and leading him to the library. They would sit together to read until he nodded off and she would carry him to bed. She relished these moments as it had become increasingly difficult to be with him every minute. The world cried for her attention whenever it shifted back to her Jack. So, she was forced to split her time between the two, leaving rules in her wake with the others so that she would feel that she was still a part of his life even when she could not be present. Some of the rules were followed, others, like her desire to portion control his food so that he would not make himself sick, were promptly ignored.

It wasn't rare for him to find his way to the kitchen. Once there, whoever was present would make him something to eat or sneak him cookies if there was a disapproving eye present. Really the only time that they turned him away was if dinner was nearly finished. He lost the hollow look to his frame thanks to their generosity. He was still quite thin, a week and a half of eating whenever he pleased was not enough to put meat on his bones though it was plenty to bring him to some semblance of health.

They all doted on him in their own ways and though he never spoke, blue eyes and a smile were more than enough thanks.

When she deemed him well enough, Mother Nature allowed him to go outside one afternoon. He had been nervous at first, but with a reassuring hand around his, he took his first steps out into his element. The moment he did, he took off running, feet not even disturbing the dusting of snow atop the ice; laughing and whooping. He didn't make it far, but then again, he didn't want to. He was happy.

The wind whistled and whipped about them, laughing with its prodigal frost child and whispering over and over in the ear of Mother Nature just how thankful it was for reuniting them. The time of mourning its friend was finally over. Wind tried many times to lift its child into the air and take him for a ride, but without the conduit of the staff, Jack just wasn't able to make the bond. But, that by no means spoiled the afternoon; the only reason it ended was because the sun entered the dusk and a tummy started to rumble. Mother Nature took her frost child back inside with the promise that he could come back out in the morning.

They ate a hearty meal that night; the table was full of robust laughter and mirth. Jack, despite all his attempts to enjoy it to the fullest, nodded off to sleep in his chair, exhausted from playing wit his oldest friend. Esther picked him up and carried him to bed, murmuring in her deep ways about Seraphina needing to remain here and enjoy her evening.

The stitches had all been removed a few days earlier, the scars pink and new. However, they did not require medical attention, so Esther dressed him in his night-clothes and tucked him in without any further fuss. She dimmed the lights and let him rest in the safety of the shadows.

The time is yet at hand, my children. Come out of your hiding, soon, very soon you will claim that which is yours. But for now, bring them to their knees. Shake them to their core, but do not destroy them completely. For tonight marks the beginning of the end and the best is yet to come.

~o.o~

It must have been the wail that pulled Seraphina from her sleep. It was not the cry of any creature that fell under her protection. Rather, it was from one that was under her ban; or possibly it was the eerie lonesomeness that comes from a room that has been voided of all shadows. Either way, she found herself running down the hall towards her sprite before the first dull thunk of a scimitar hitting darkness even rang out. She burst into the room, eyes flashing to all the dark corners, daring them to try and harm Jack before she woke him. He was still half asleep and nestled in blankets, the insulation used to keep in the cold without regard to the danger surrounding them. She made him wrap his arms around her neck and tightened her grip around him before opening the door and walking out into the deserted hall.

She couldn't hide him completely, but when another wail ripped through the silence, she opted to hide his now very awake and frightened eyes and let his legs drape over her arm unprotected.

"Don't be frightened, Jack," She whispered as she ran, but the whimpers from under the blanket proved to validate the fact that he really was quite frightened. By now there was a full-blown battle in the globe room, clangs of weaponry and the hisses and wails of the adversaries filled the air. But, the others knew what to do: it was her job to get him away from Pitch and hide him somewhere safe and theirs to cover her escape if the pole should ever be compromised.

A hiss from around the corner had her reeling to hide in the frame of a door. She slid to the ground, Jack pressed tight against her with one arm and the other wielding a curved blade. When the being started down the hall, it died with a shriek as Seraphina sliced through its neck and ran as fast as her legs could carry them. By the time she stopped to gather her wits and locate an exit, Jack had gone stark white and was trembling like a leaf. She held him even tighter and whispered to him comforting mantras as she ran, her pace quickened by the howls that gave chase behind them.

She threw open the front doors and continued on into the snow, her slippers for once disrupting the quiet brilliance of the untouched powder. She was far too filled with fear for this child to be concerned with such things as this. So filled, in fact, that she didn't see the hammer of sand in the dawning light until it collided with her and threw her to the ground.

Ears ringing and shoulder aching, she gasped for air for a moment before she realized with horror that Jack was no longer in her arms.

Her eyes sought him out against the never-ending sea of white, finding purchase at last on the blue blanket about fifteen feet away from her.

"Jack!" She shrieked, stumbling towards him as he stood and tried to make his way back to where she was. But he was no match for the whip of black sand that wound its way around his neck and jerked him back to the ground. The whip dragged him, flailing and kicking, to the feet of his master.

He screamed, but it did him no good. She screamed, but that did even less. By the time she was within a few feet of them, Pitch had the boy standing, held tight against the black robe, and an ashen hand resting around his throat. He tried to scream again, but a quick squeeze of his windpipe reduced him to hacking coughs and pitiful whimpers.

The hordes poured from the buildings of the Pole, leading the warriors of light out to watch the show. Only a few had fallen on either side.

The warriors rushed as one towards the Nightmare King and his hostage, intent on ripping him away from his captor, but the gurgling wail of the boy as Pitch squeezed his throat just enough to scare him was plenty to bring the armada to a screeching halt.

"I told you my child," Pitch said with delight, eclipse eyes resting on Mother Nature. "I told you that I would take what I want to take. He belongs to me."

"Release him! He holds no debt to you, shadow-dweller."

"Maybe not, but then again what debt does a gun hold to its wielder?" With a grin, Pitch cut off Jack's air in two crushes of his windpipe. "Bang. Bang."

"Pitch!"

Jack gasped in air through sobbing coughs and hiccups the moment he was released. His knuckles were white from gripping Pitch's arm with such force. Ice had begun to climb over the Nightmare King with each frantic breath of the child.

"So much power," Pitch crooned and forced Jack's head up to rest his ear by Pitch's mouth. "Say goodbye to mommy, Jökul," he said, eyes resting on his daughter. A sob was all Jack was able to produce.

"I said, say goodbye to your mommy. She will miss you once you're gone." Pitch released his hold on Jack's torso and bent to grip his knee. Jack began to shake.

"Say goodbye."

Blubbering sobs.

"Bad boy."

Pitch wrenched the knee, breaking the leg at the joint. Jack screamed in anguish and collapsed against his captor. Within seconds, he was lax as sand swirled around his head, a shadowman sprung forth and slung the unconscious sprite over his shoulder. All too quickly, Pitch and his army had disappeared.

Jack was gone.

The End.

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