Alaia Skyhawk: Here it is, THE SCENE! MUAHAHAHAHA! :D
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.
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Chapter 55: Rise of the Guardians ~Part 3~
Jack remained where he was, watching Jamie drift off to sleep. Moments to treasure, for once the weekend visit to Santoff Clausen was over, he wouldn't see the boy or his sister in person for quite some time. One or two passing visits during the year would be the limit, until Northern Winter came around again.
Which meant that, right now, he was content to stay put. That is until nine o'clock neared an a wisp of wind reminded him that there was a blizzard due over the mountains of Alaska.
Jack sighed and flipped up to the top of the roof, setting his staff to his back before glancing up at the moon.
"Another Northern Winter almost over, and another year of my schedule coming to a close. I guess I'm still waiting." He let out another sigh. "How much longer? Because... Because I'm not sure how much longer I can take this. I want to be able to do what I want without having to watch myself. Without having to sit back and not do things when I could be helping." He bowed his head, then looked at the moon again with his hand pressed to his chest. "I want to be able to live, in the way my heart is telling me to."
There was no answer, but then he hadn't expected one, and Jack shook his head. He then left the roof and landed on the nearby telephone lines, the wires frosting over at the touch of his bare feet. But the frown he wore quickly faded when he looked up to see dreamsand trails crossing the sky and splitting into smaller strands to seek out children. It was a sight that never failed to make him smile.
"Right on time, Sandman."
He laughed to himself and ran along the wires, jumping up to snag one of the trails with his fingers. It turned into a dolphin, one that leapt and frolicked around him, and as a tiny act of rebellion he touched it with a few grains of frostdust before the dream continued on its way. Brightening its glow, and ensuring that the child who received it would have a very good dream indeed.
Jack then continued to stroll along the wires, reasoning that the blizzard in Alaska could wait an hour. It wasn't like he couldn't get there at a moment's notice using an Ice Mirror. But whatever thoughts he might have swelled on during the delay, with the dreamsand trails fading out now that their job here was done, they were shoved aside when a large shadow shot past behind him close enough that he'd felt the wind of its passage.
He pulled his staff from the strap securing it to his back, and leapt in the direction the shadow had gone. Jack then landed in a tree, his eyes searching for signs of an intruder, and then yet again the shadow shot by somewhere behind him.
He took off after it again, rebounding off street-lamps and cars, setting off alarms, as he went. The winds told him the intruder had left the Village area and gone into the centre of town, leading him to the alley behind the local convenience store.
The shadow passed the corner of his eye, a bin tumbled over in a clatter of split bottles, and he jumped to the ground from his perch atop a delivery wagon parked out back. Jack was becoming increasingly irritated now, because Burgess was his territory. And while he had no problems with other immortals doing their jobs in the area, he would take exception if one of those immortals was out here now deliberately aggravating him.
It seemed that question would be answered a moment later, as an annoyingly familiar voice spoke from behind him.
"Hello mate." Jack spun round and spotted the intruder, who had the distinct outline of a certain Pooka. A fact that was confirmed when Bunny stepped into the light with a boomerang held casually in his grasp. "Been a long time. Blizzard of 68, I believe? Easter Sunday, wasn't it?"
Jack leaned on his staff, pasting on a smile calculated to annoy Bunny to the greatest degree. He then spoke with false cheer and innocence.
"Bunny! You're not still mad about that...are ya?"
Bunny glared at him, but his tone remained reasonable.
"Yes." He began to inspect his boomerang, and casually looked at it as he did so. "But this is about something else... Fellas."
Jack didn't even get a moment to react, before a large fury hand grabbed him by the back of his hoodie and hauled him into the air. He didn't even react when another fury hand divested him of his staff, for after a couple of centuries of breaking into North's workshop only to be caught by Phil and thrown out... It had become ingrained instinct not to lash out in defence when he was grabbed by a yeti.
Of course, neither of the yetis manhandling him right now was Phil, but by the time that had registered with his mind he was already being stuffed head-first into a sturdy red sack.
"Hey! Put me down! What the-"
His protests became muffled, and the yeti who held the wriggling sack, glanced at the other who murmured into one of North's magic snowglobes.
"Durtal bardla burdlew."
The portal to the workshop opened, and the yeti that had Jack, glanced at Bunny and gestured to it in query.
"Dwbard urghwetee?"
Bunny eyed the portal and laughed, scratching at the fur of his chest.
"Me? Not on your nelly... See you back at the pole."
He thumped his foot on the floor twice and disappeared down one of his own burrows. The two yetis then shrugged, threw the sack through the portal, and followed after it.
Jack couldn't suppress his nauseated yelp, as he was subjected to the portal with no visual frame of reference by which to orient himself. He heard a hushed 'he's here' just after he landed with an unceremonious thud on what seemed to be carpet, and with the yeti no longer holding the sack shut, he was able to open the top of it and peer out...
Right into the faces of two elves, which quickly darted away from him once it became obvious he wasn't in the best of moods.
Jack pushed the edge of the sack back away from his head, aware of a female voice chattering about teeth somewhere in the vicinity, and then his eyes settled on the large and jolly individual that was Nicholas St North.
North smiled, welcoming.
"Hey, there he is! Jack Frost!"
To his left was Sandy, wearing a small and suspiciously amused smile. To his right was Bunny, who just generally looked annoyed, and behind them was a woman covered in feathers who had crystalline wings, and who couldn't be anyone but Toothiana.
She turned sharply, called to attention by North's words, and grinned cheerily.
Jack stared at them.
"Wow... You've got to be kidding me." The two yetis that had abducted him, now picked him up by his arms to set him on his feet. "Hey, hey. Whoa, put me down."
As they did so, North held out his arms in greeting.
"I hope the yetis treated you well?"
Jack used a foot to flip his staff, which had been on the floor, up into his grasp. Slinging it over his right shoulder as he spoke with considerable sarcasm.
"Oh, yeah. I love being shoved in a sack and tossed through a magic portal."
North continued to smile.
"Oh, good! That was my idea! You know Bunny, obviously."
When the Pooka was pointed to, Jack's response was bland.
"Obviously."
North began to point behind him.
"And the Tooth Fairy?"
Before Jack could answer, Tooth shot towards him until her face was inches from his. Clearly, respecting his personal space was far from her mind right now.
"Hello, Jack. I've heard a lot about you... And your teeth!"
He stared.
"My, my what?"
Her fingers were already poking at his mouth, prising it open so she could peer inside.
"Open up! Are they really as white as they say? Yes!" A gasp. "Oh, they really do sparkle like
freshly fallen snow!"
Several of her mini fairies chattered and swooned around him, while others buzzed in close to him seemingly on the verge of having hysterics from rapture.
Tooth waved a finger at those ones, shooing them away from him.
"Girls, pull yourselves together... Let's not disgrace the uniform."
As she backed up from a rather relieved Spirit of Winter, North began to introduce the fourth personage of importance that was in the room.
"And, most definitely, you know Sandy." He heard a small snore, and glanced down to see that the Sandman had dozed off where he floated. "Sandy! Sandy!" Tap tap. "Wake up!"
Sandy snapped awake, looking around as though to check the boring part was now done, and Jack waved his staff to get their attention.
"Hey! Anyone wanna tell me why I'm here?" He turned his back to them, strolling towards the globe and idly frosting over the elf that tried to offer him a plate of cookies. Sandy saw that and grinned, even as Jack continued. "I mean, I must have done something really bad to get you four together."
Jack looked over his shoulder at them, wearing a wry and mischievous smile. "Am I on the naughty list?"
North actually snorted at that, and chuckled.
"On naughty list? ...You hold still hold record!" He brushed a hand over the tattoo on his arm which read 'Naughty'. "But no matter. We overlook. Now we are wiping clean the slate."
Jack frowned a little in confusion, even as suspicion and hope began to dawn.
"How come?"
North ignored Bunny's muttered 'good question', and instead drew himself up tall.
"How come? I tell you how come! Because now...you are Guardian!"
A yeti moved in each side of him, each raising a torch high as they echoed the Russian's cry in their own language. That seemed to be the cue, because an instant later elves seemed to come from nowhere carrying trumpets and proceeded to blast out a fanfare. A pair of tooth fairies descended towards Jack carrying a necklace made of paper snowflakes, and when he backed up in surprise he was stopped from going too far by the pair of yetis that had taken up positions behind him.
"What the-"
Jack pulled out of their hold, as North's voice boomed in enthusiasm while the elves marched into formations around him.
"This is the best part!
The yetis with the torches now began to twirl them, getting a bit too close to Jack for comfort. Once more he found himself penned in, stood on the G symbol on the floor near the globe. By this point an elf near his feet pointed to his feet quite sternly, and then at a ridiculous-looking pair of blue shoes that were being carried by some of the other elves. And now paper confetti was falling all around him, the immortal growing more and more baffled by the second, until he saw a yeti handing the Tome of the Guardians to North.
Jack deadpanned, his attention shifting to Sandy, who floated beside North looking as though he were fighting not to giggle. The little sneak hadn't told them anything!
Jack took a deep breath, counted to five, and then slammed the foot on his staff onto the floor. The gesture sent a blast of icy air through the chamber, extinguishing the torches carried by the yetis, iced over the floor around Jack, and sent several trumpet-wielding elves skidding in various directions as their music droned to an undignified halt.
In the silence and stillness that followed, with North, Bunny, and Tooth staring at him in surprise for his outburst, Jack tilted his head and looked openly at The Sandman.
"Are you enjoying yourself, Sandy?"
The other three Guardians looked at their smallest member, and after several seemingly thoughtful moments, Sandy smiled and nodded cheerfully.
Jack ran a hand over his face.
"I thought so." He strolled towards them a few steps and stopped, setting his staff to his back and holding his arms out to indicate the elves etc. "Care to explain this then? Hmm? I'm all for advocating a bit of fun, but this is a bit over the top."
North and the others continued to look confused, and Tooth spoke for them all.
"Sandy, what's this about?"
Sandy glanced at her, then at Jack, and faced the Spirit of Winter fully. He then began to rapidly gesture and draw symbols over his head, at a pace where she and the others didn't have the time to register what was drawn never mind try to guess what it meant... Except Jack watched the little golden man intently, nodding every so often, before he then let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Ok, I get it now. It's supposed to be North's turn to swear in the next new Guardian, and he's been planning and doing rehearsals of this little ceremony for most of the past four-hundred years. So you decided to let him have his fun, even if it meant you also got a good laugh at all of our expenses."
Tooth stared at Jack, then pointed at Sandy.
"You understood all that?"
Jack snorted.
"Why wouldn't I? Sandy is my best friend, and I took the time to learn to understand him. That's what friends do."
It was a low blow, but Jack was feeling more than a little irritated. He'd waited for this, for so long, and it was turning into a farce right before his eyes... Might as well toss a bit more oil and wood on the fire. At least that way this whole thing would make an even funnier story in hindsight.
North, Tooth, and Bunny all flinched, considering none of them had bothered to offer or even think of doing the same. But to give at least one of them credit, North stepped forward to start salvaging the ceremony.
"Jack, you are right about that. We didn't put in that effort. But right now, you are here because Man in Moon has chosen you at last. It's what you've waited for, no?"
Jack regarded him in silence, unmoving, before he grimaced and ran a hand thought his hair.
"Umm, this is awkward. How to say this without totally disappointing you." He took a deep breath. "I can see how much you've looked forward to swearing in the next Guardian. How much it's meant to you... And so I'll forego my traditional right to swear in the next one that may be chosen, and let you do it instead when that day comes."
North blinked, confused, and Tooth fluttered forward.
"Jack, what are you saying?"
Jack took another deep breath and let it out, before standing straight and holding a hand to his chest as though taking the vow he'd actually already taken.
"What I'm saying is... That in the year 1825, at the behest of the Man in the Moon and with him and Mother Nature as witness... The Sandman was summoned to the Winter Sanctuary, whereby he was asked by Tsar Lunar to swear in the next Guardian to be chosen at that time and upon that day." Jack lowered his hand, starting to look just a little sheepish. "And so on that day, I swore to protect the children of the world. To defend them with my life; their hopes, their wishes, and their dreams. For they are all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will ever be."
A pin dropping would have made a louder sound than any in the room following that statement. As Sandy floated to stand beside Jack in support, and North's voice eventually broke the silence.
"So, you're?"
Jack nodded.
"I'm already a Guardian, and I have been for a hundred and eighty-seven years. Nearly a hundred and eighty-eight." He started to frown. "And now, we need to get down to the matter of Pitch, because I wouldn't have been brought out of concealment unless he'd started to make his move. It's what I've been waiting for, all these years."
North and Tooth remained shocked, although both started to nod in at least partial understanding, but Bunny was far less amenable.
He hopped forward, fur bristling, and his short fuse well and truly lit.
"Now wait a second! Are you saying that you were a Guardian, back when you were freezing my ears together every Easter?!"
Jack faced him, sarcasm lacing his tone.
"Well if you had thought to ask questions and get your facts right, before attacking my Lieutenant, and had then had the grace and good manners to apologise for spreading gossip and causing trouble afterwards... Maybe then you'd have only got that good shaking and not all of the rest!"
Bunny advanced towards him, glaring.
"There's no way you're a Guardian! If you were, then what have you been doing all this time, eh? Where have you been for the children of the world?"
Jack felt rage bubble up at the injustice of those words, and his reply was practically snarled.
"I was there as much as I could be!" He stormed up to Bunny, glaring at him face-to-face and yelling at the top of his lungs. "Do you have any idea what it's like?! To be a Guardian yet be forced not to work as one?! To be restricted to doing what it is you were chosen to do, for just one small town in the entire world?!" Jack gritted his teeth. "I know what that's like, and it's HELL. Yet I've endured it for almost two centuries, all for the sake of protecting your sorry excuse for an ASS!"
Jack stepped back from the Pooka and turned to face Sandy, starting to gesture vehemently even as blue-white dust formed over his head into the same rapid progression of symbols that was the language Sandy had used to talk to him.
The conversation fired back and forth a few times. The other three Guardians, and all the elves and yetis, completely clueless as to what was being said, other than it was likely very uncomplimentary about Bunny. But when it was over Sandy turned to Bunny and the others, and after a reluctant nod from Jack, the Sandman began to 'speak' with Jack acting as translator.
"Tsar Lunar knew Pitch would return, and that he would seek to exploit our weaknesses. The only way to defend against that, was to ensure there would be a Guardian he didn't know about. That he would make his plans based on fighting just us four. Jack was kept hidden for that reason, and was ordered to wait in obscurity for Pitch to strike. That way Pitch wouldn't know about him, and wouldn't be able to change his plans to account for him. The Nightmare King believes we are all he has to deal with, and will have plans to counter our strengths and exploit our vulnerable aspects." Sandy looked at Jack, who continued to translate in a muted tone. "Jack was selected because he is the counter to all of our weaknesses. Things which could be used against us, will not work against him. Even if we are brought low, he will still be able to fight. He is our shield, and thus also shield to all the children of the world, and he is also our hidden weapon. Forged, and saved... for this battle."
Sandy's glare was enough to subdue Bunny, as if the lecture and explanation hadn't been enough. But Jack still looked uncomfortable, as though a rift had opened between him and his newly aware peers, and it needed to be mended.
Sandy glanced at North, inclined his head towards Jack, and nodded meaningfully. The Russian took the hint, and approached the Spirit of Winter.
"Jack... Walk with me."
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Alaia Skyhawk: THEY KNOW! And Jack finally got the chance to scream his lungs out at Bunny in a tirade that the Pooka has so richly deserved for a long LONG time. But at least North will be able to help Jack settle down and get back to business, in the next chapter :)