A/N: ….. I am SO Sorry for making you guys wait so long for this! I was conflicted over what to do with this chapter but decided it was a fitting ending to the story, but, I've left it open for a sequel if there's interest in one. Huge Thanks to JilianLo, Tala White 14, RiseOfTheSoulGuardians, Guest and No one Important for your lovely reviews for the last chapter! They really inspired me to keep going when I thought this wasn't going to get finished! Huge Thank You also to anyone who added this story, or myself, to their alerts or favourites! It is much appreciated!
Disclaimer – Not mine!
So, do enjoy this last chapter, and of course, Supernatural hits 200 tonight so, enjoy watching that too! :D
A flutter of wings pierced the silence of the room, announcing the arrival of the odd group of eight. Sam hastened to flick the light switch, bringing some light to their surroundings.
"Where are we?" Jack questioned as he took in the distastefully decorated motel room.
"Burgess." Dean replied, glancing at the deceivingly young looking immortal, before falling into a slightly awkward silence.
Jack nodded in response, he had known there was a motel in Burgess, but never had had any reason to be in it.
"Jack?" Tooth began. Jack could literally see her slipping into mother-hen mode. "Come lie down, we need to look at your injuries."
Like flicking a light switch, the remaining Guardians started to bustle about, fetching water and other medical supplies as they prepared to help however they could.
"Guys it's fine, really. They're already iced over, they'll be healed in no time." Jack announced, a small reassuring smile appearing on his face. "I won't say no to lying down though! I'm surprisingly exhausted, turns out being unconscious doesn't count as sleep." He joked lightly, eager to ease the fear and tension that was present in the room. Tooth glanced at the others, the inner conflict between needing to physically do something to help Jack heal as well as hearing what had actually happened and letting him sleep evident in her expressive eyes.
"Tooth." North started, sensing what Tooth was thinking. "Let the boy rest. If he says he's fine, he is!"
She slumped slightly in response, but agreed that the most important thing was letting Jack get some rest. "Ok."
Jack smirked at her response, knowing full well that she wanted to hear everything that had happened. He mouthed a silent 'Thank you' to North as he moved towards the bed, who winked and gave a thumbs up in response. There may come a time when he was ready to share everything with his friends, but now was not the time, and so he lay down and resigned himself to trying to sleep. Emotionally, he was exhausted, but the past couple of times he had entered dreamland, his mind had been tormented by Pitch's nightmares, and he was slightly afraid to fall asleep, lest it happen again.
As Jack closed his eyes in preparation for sleep, the Guardians turned to the Winchesters and their angel, a slightly sheepish look on their faces.
"We have jobs to do." Tooth started, as Sandy nodded in agreement. The children needed dreams, Tooth's fairies needed guidance and now Christmas was over, Easter was drawing ever closer. "Could you three watch over him for now? North can stay too?"
"Er of course," Sam agreed.
"Thank you so much!" Tooth gushed quietly in reply. "We won't be too long, he'll probably not even notice we're gone!"
"We be fine!" North assured, "Now go! The children are waiting!"
His three fellow Guardians smiled briefly before leaving; two through the window and another jumping underground, leaving only a small flower to mark his presence.
The Winchester's grabbed some beers and moved to the small table situated in the middle of the small kitchenette. North stood his ground at the foot of Jack's bed smiling down at the boy with fatherly fondness written on his face. He looked so peaceful while he was resting, all signs of pain and fear gone from his pale features. North wordlessly moved to the other bed in the room, the stress of the past week, especially so soon after Christmas, had left him feeling drained. And now with the boy he thought of as a son lying an arms length away, his mind was finally at peace.
It was not long thereafter that snores were heard from North's bed, causing both Sam and Dean to smirk slightly at the sound of the legendary immortal sleeping a few feet from them.
"You should get some shut eye too y'know." Dean requested, aiming it towards his little brother.
Sam scoffed in reply, "So should you. I'm fine." He insisted, but Dean refused to listen, merely stating that he and Cas would keep watch and he would sleep after. Sam eventually caved, plonking his oversized form on the lumpy two seater sofa as he sprawled out in an attempt to get comfy.
"Sasquatch." Dean muttered, causing Cas to let out a brief quiet chuckle under his breath.
Pitch materialised through the shadows into a cosy room of an old-fashioned manor. He had searched for quite some time, deploying his army of nightmares to do the same, for the demon who now stood across from him, his back turned. Oh how easy a target he was, Pitch thought ruefully; the creature looked entirely oblivious to his approach. He cast those thoughts aside. He was a King, and great King's knew when to pick their battles, and when to save their strength. He had questions; questions that needed to be answered.
"Well, come on then." Crowley called out. Pitch jumped, surprised that the supposedly oblivious demon had felt his presence as the shorter man turned to face him. "Lets hear it."
Pitch narrowed his eyes as he leered at the being before him, barely keeping his anger in check. "Where were you?" He hissed venomously, the usual smooth, velvet tone of his voice long gone. Crowley just stood there and watched as the Bogeyman vented his emotions, knowing quite well there was more questions to follow. "He got away! They have him! Where were you and your demons when you were needed?"
Crowley paused for a moment in thought once Pitch had finished, not letting go of his calm facade as he waited to see if Black was finished. "Is that everything?" He questioned, just to be sure.
Pitch glared at the demon, his betrayal-fuelled anger deepening at Crowley's patronising tone. "We had a deal." He growled in response. "You will regret this, demon."
Crowley nodded exaggeratedly, grimacing slightly in agreement with Pitch. Then, without warning, he raised both his hands and threw Pitch into the opposite wall, making use of his extra power to hold the Nightmare King in place, if only for a while.
"If you would be so kind as to remind me on the terms of our agreement." Crowley smoothly questioned the fuming immortal before him. When he saw Pitch was in no mood to answer, he continued himself, "I would help you defeat Jack Frost if you backed me against Lucifer, and allowed me some time with the boy. Yes?" Pitch gave a small nod in response, not really sure where Crowley was going with this as he tried to fight against the force keeping him against the wall. "I fail to see how you're aggrieved here; you may never need to fulfil one half of your agreement, yet I have done everything in my power to assist you in the capture and defeat of Frost."
Pitch's eyebrows rose in indignation, "Defeat? The boy lives on! He is still out there!"
Crowley paused briefly, wanting to choose his next words carefully. "What is defeat? Eh?" He questioned. "You got what you wanted most; no he's not dead, and yes he got away. But you still broke him. You still made him desperate. And for those moments," Crowley continued, lowering his voice to a hush in an effort to help the words truly resonate with the Nightmare King. "For those moments, he feared you. He still fears you."
Pitch smirked slightly at the demon's words; seeing the truth in them as he was released to the ground, his sight just a little bit less red and his anger just a little bit lessened. In his own way, Crowley was right. And there was a certain satisfaction in the realisation that yes, he had scared the 'I-laugh-in-the-face-of-fear' Jack Frost. He cast his eyes downward as he pondered what was still bugging him. "Why did you not help fight them off?" He asked, his voice seemingly smaller from the shame of another battle lost to his greatest foes.
Crowley sighed exasperatedly, "Fighting Winchester's was never part of our deal." He began, "We got what we wanted from the boy, I was not going to put myself at risk against those two morons so you could prove a point to the Guardians."
Pitch narrowed his eyes at the demon's excuse, silently seething at what he had lost. He faded into the shadows surrounding him, knowing a lost cause when he saw one; the demon was not going to help any further. But no matter. His army was still powerful and Frost was still weakened. This was not over.
Darkness.
That's all he could see.
No moon came to light his way this time.
Jack's eyes refused to adjust to the lack of light, his mind overwhelmingly foggy as he tried to grasp what was going on. He thought back to what he could last remember; something about a motel room, his friends were there. He had gotten out. He was free. So how did he end up on his own again? And why was it so annoyingly dark?
As that thought crossed his mind he felt uncomfortably hot restraints clamping down on his body, limiting his movement. He gasped and made to cry out in surprise, but found that he couldn't.
"Jack?" Pitch's velvety voice called out from the shadows, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. He felt his breathing increase as he began to panic, desperately struggling against the burning restraints. An animalistic sniff came from the darkness, followed by the slinking sound of sand which came closer and closer until...
CRACK!
Jack jolted awake, jumping slightly as he returned to consciousness. He felt panic swell up inside as the sound of the whip cracking echoed in his ears. He blinked his eyes rapidly as he took in the room around him. He smiled softly as he was greeted with the sight of North fast asleep on the bed next to his, feeling immediately comforted by the presence of his father-figure. It had just been a nightmare, he reminded himself as he brought his breathing under control. He was safe. He sighed uneasily, slowly raising himself into a sitting position as he tried to shake off the uneasy feeling that had creeped over him.
"You okay?"
Jack turned towards the vaguely familiar voice and was met with the sight of one of the humans who had helped rescue him sat at the small kitchen table. He nodded shakily in response. "I will be." He added quietly, not really sure how to act around this human. He had not been seen by an adult before; it was quite a strange feeling. He rose to his feet and moved to the kitchen, casting a sorry glance towards the broken remains of his beloved staff as he went.
"We haven't been properly introduced, I'm Dean."
Jack nodded in response. "Jack." He replied simply. He reached for his hoodie, which had been fully repaired and neatly folded on the bench of the small kitchen, slipped it on and raised the hood, gaining immediate comfort from the familiar material.
"Look, I know nightmares can be bad, but they'll get better."
"I said I'm fine." He insisted, not exactly enjoying the idea of an adult thinking he knows better than Jack himself. "How do you even see me? Or any of us?" He questioned defensively, eager to change the topic.
Dean raised his eyebrows on hearing Jack's tone, taking a swig of the beer he had been drinking while the boy slept after Cas had gone to check the surrounding area for any remaining demons. "Trust me kiddo, it took a while, but I got there."
"But how?" Jack pressed, his inquisitive mind genuinely curious to hear what had made an adult set aside reality and believe in something like him.
Dean gazed at Jack for a short moment, silently pondering over how much to tell the spirit. "Sandy helped." He began. "He showed me things, times in my life when you guys had a hand in what was going on. But none of it really seemed real until he showed me you. You were a big brother too."
Jack froze at the statement, eyes wide as he realised how much Dean knew; of all the things he had expected Dean to say, details of his human life was not one of them.
"And you gave your life for your little sister; that's why you're like this." Dean continued.
Jack nodded slowly, eyes glistening with tears as Dean mentioned his death with such understanding in his voice. "Yeah."
"Well, I know what that's like. I guess it helped me see how you aren't that unbelievable." Dean admitted honestly.
"He's your brother?" Jack questioned, gesturing to the tall sleeping form currently sprawled across the couch.
Dean nodded in response, a small smile beginning to appear on his face. "That's Sam."
Jack slowly shuffled to the small table, sitting himself down next to Dean. "Her name was Emily." He responded quietly, still fairly unused to claiming a sister, a family, after so long of being unaware of their existence. After that the pair fell into silence, but Jack's mind was running rampant; thoughts, mostly darker than he would usually entertain, kept being dredged to the surface, and he could feel sparks of panic beginning to arise in him. What if Pitch was still there? What if he didn't get the nightmarish substance out of his wounds quick enough to not be infected? Will the nightmares ever leave him alone long enough to allow him a peaceful night's sleep?
"How do you know the nightmares will end?" He questioned, desperate for the answer and unable to keep the touches of fear and worry from his voice.
"I've had my fair share of bad experiences, and nightmares always follow. You've just been through hell, if you weren't having nightmares, I'd be worried." Dean reasoned, "But they always go away eventually. Give it time."
Jack felt himself relax at the explanation. He debated for a while on whether to pry further and hear what had happened with Dean but he eventually came to the decision that this time, it might be best not to pry. "I'm gonna try and get some more rest." He stated, setting his curiosity aside as he moved back over to his bed. As he lay down he cast another glance at his broken staff, resolving to fix it in the morning. What little power he had without it was being channelled into healing his wounds and to attempt a repair job at the minute he felt would be a mistake.
Dean nodded in agreement to the spirit's plan of action, a little voice in the back of his head noting how strange it was an immortal would need rest, but he shrugged it off easily; after what Jack had been through, anyone would be exhausted. He watched the deceptively young teenager as he crossed the room and flopped back on the bed, smiling to himself as he fell asleep almost immediately.
- 24 hours later -
Jack awoke again after about 18hrs of deep sleep. Shortly after his conversation with Dean, Sandy had returned and after being told of what had happened, he had heaped a large portion of dreamsand on the sleeping immortal, which had effectively chased away any nightmares. Once he had finished with Jack he had promptly turned to Dean, knocking him out with a ball of dreamsand to the face despite the eldest Winchester's protests.
The nightmare-free rest had made a significant improvement on the health of the young Guardian, and it was a result of this that he now held his fully repaired staff back in his hand. He was still less active than usual: not daring to try any of his usual tricks largely due to the pain that still flared in his back and shoulders, but he still made an active effort to annoy Bunny as much as usual, gaining much amusement from the Pooka's reluctance to retort after Tooth had reminded him of 'all Jack had been through.'
Currently, the Guardians were preparing to take their leave from the motel. They did not want to intrude too much on the Winchester's, and Jack would be able to recover better in the Pole, where they would be able to monitor his recovery more carefully. Bunny had already arrived at North's workshop, muttering something about alerting the Yetis to what had happened and getting Jack's room ready, but they all knew he was just avoiding travelling via North's snowglobes.
"Thank you, all of you." Tooth spoke addressing the Winchester's and Cas. "We would never have gotten him back without your help." She finished softly, her voice laced with gratitude.
Sam and Dean both looked at each other sheepishly, neither of them used to being thanked for what they had done. "Y-you… It's-" Sam started, stumbling over his words as he tried to find the best way of responding as Dean just smiled and nodded.
"You're welcome." Cas replied sincerely, a small smile gracing his lips as he met Tooth's kind gaze. She smiled widely in response, struggling to not sweep the three of them into a hug.
"You are right Toothy, we would never have gotten him back." North agreed. "This Christmas, you all are on Nice list; Big presents!" He boomed cheerfully.
Sandy chuckled at North's antics. He usually only brought good dreams to children, as their minds were easily traumatised and needed dreams to help comfort their impressionable thoughts, but he silently vowed to hand-deliver the Winchester boy's good dreams in the future, for he had sensed since being around them that their nights were full of fear and terror. For heroes such as them, he decided that they deserved to dream about the things they fight for, that were the reason they helped them in the first place; hope, love and family.
"Thanks guys." Jack agreed quietly, his gaze shooting to both Sam and Cas before landing on Dean as he tried to express his recognition and gratitude for all they had to do to save him. "I- it-"
"We know." Sam interrupted, reading what the spirit was trying to say from his expressive face. Jack smiled in response, relieved that they understood what he was trying to get across, before stepping closer to the remaining Guardians, all ready for North to activate the snowglobe.
"What happened the sleigh?" Sam questioned.
"Ah! Is too bumpy, I sent them home." North replied. "We ready?"
"Be careful kiddo." Dean warned Jack affectionately. He had grown quite fond of the immortal during his short stay, his opinion of him increasing tenfold when he had started winding up Bunny.
"North Pole." North whispered, before throwing the snowglobe at the wall, opening a wormhole.
Jack just shrugged his shoulders in response, "I'm always careful." He replied, a mischievous smile creeping over his face, before he along with the Guardians jumped into the portal, disappearing in as much a disbelieving fashion as they had arrived.
- fin -
A/N: Thank You all so much for sticking with this till the end! It's been so much fun writing it and I'm humbled by the positive response so far! Here goes my last plea for reviews! I would love to hear your thoughts on this ending and what you thought of the story as a whole, I appreciate it so much guys, Thank You!
Until next time! :D xx