After bursting through the portal, the scene was oddly anticlimactic to their entrance as they burst through a shimmering portal of swirling colours of wonder into an abandoned street lined with darkened grey houses only lit by the gloomy glow of streetlamps that barely offered any reprieve to the dull black and grey that shrouded the night.
Jack involuntarily let out a gasp as the strange cold feeling vanished as suddenly as it had come over him and his ribs were jolted painfully as the sleigh burst into the streets and, as usual, half crashed to the hard concrete, jostling the passengers in the sleigh. He saw Sandy's concerned glance and hopped off the sleigh before it could be followed up.
Hidden momentarily behind the back of the sleigh he took a few deep breaths of the clean night air to clear his head and calm his nerves, hand curling around his side. It was probably nothing, he probably imagined it. His body was under a lot of stress and pain right now that was all it was, he attempted to convince himself. He shook his head as though to dislodge the pessimistic thoughts that were forcing their way to the front of his mind. The sight of the glowing blue orb in the other spirits hand flashed across his memories that stirred the fear he was trying to tame, twisting his heart painfully at the memory, tears momentarily blossoming in the corner of his hazy eyes.
"We must hurry!" North's loud voice broke him from his trance which he was grateful for, and he hurried around the side of the sleigh to catch up with the others who had already begun to make their way down the street, Sandy and Tooth gliding over the tops of the buildings to search the area whilst Bunny and North stormed down the road, completely oblivious to their missing member. Jack raced after them, launching himself into the air to quickly follow, a strange pit forming in his stomach that he had almost been left behind, scanning the skies and the streets for who knows what, he didn't know.
Taking more comfort from being with his old friend, Jack called for the Wind to carry him higher upwards, soothed by the soft caress as he was raised above the buildings. The Wind whistled in understanding around him, encouraging him and providing strength where he had none, helping him reign back control and take the weight from his aching side. He followed a short distance behind the glowing form of Sandy, far enough so that the bright glow of the small man wouldn't illuminate his injuries but close so as not to be left behind again or draw suspicion to himself, scanning the road and houses for anything out of place and keeping an eye on his fellow Guardians. The night was silent as they drifted through, unaware to their presence and distilled with a gentle calmness.
His attention had just begun to drift when a shadow shifted down below near a window. By the time he had looked back, everything was still once more, nothing out of place to expose anything wrong. He scanned the rest of the Guardians but they didn't seem to have noticed anything. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him, he couldn't exactly be thinking straight after everything that had happened. Just as he was about to dismiss it, putting it down to pure paranoia, he caught movement from the corner of his eye but as he spun around to catch sight of it again there was nothing there.
"Did any of you see that?" he frowned but was met by the blank stares of Tooth and Sandy and shook it off, "Never mind, must have been my imagination."
Tooth gave him a concerned look but could not guarder what could be troubling Jack as his hood was still pulled low over his face. He quickly turned away and searched more closely for a sign of what he had seen.
There! A shadow was flitting between the small beams of lights from the streetlamps, barely susceptibly in the blend of the darkness. Whatever it was must have somehow realised it had been spotted for it paused suddenly and Jack could feel eyes on him. Then, without warning, it was shooting into the air, charging straight at Sandy's turned back, eyes gleaming a blood red, hooves thundering on thin air.
"Sandy!" Jack yelled out, twirling his staff around and shooting a large blast of ice towards the nightmare which froze an inch from the small glowing man, hanging for a moment for them all to witness before gravity took hold and it fell back through the air and shattered onto the hard ground, spreading out shards of frozen black sand. The others all spun around to face him in shock whilst Sandy casually floated down to examine the remains as though he hadn't almost been trampled by a horse made out of nightmare sand.
Jack self consciously tugged at his hood again under their stunned looks and decided to join Sandy back on the ground. He touched down lightly, watching as the Sandman examined a small handful of black sand. The soft flittering of wings alerted them to Tooth's presence and loud footfall marching steadily nearer was brought by North trying to keep up with Bunny inevitably leading the way. All paused when they came up to Sandy.
"Nightmare?" North breathed and Sandy nodded slowly, twitching his fingers that held the sand so it transformed back into glittering golden sand. He floated back up and an angry expression crossed his face. "He is back then."
Golden sand burst above the Sandman's head forming a small fist that slammed into a palm of another hand.
"You are right my friend," North nodded in agreement, a scowl etched on his face, running a hand though his long white beard, "We must stop him and make him pay. This time make sure he will not be getting up again so soon."
"To sleigh," he yelled once again, wasting no time in racing back to the partially crashed sleigh and large reindeers that were stomping hooves impatiently. They clambered back in- Bunny making it very clear how much he protested- and North launched them into the air once more.
Jack unconsciously massaged his chest from his precarious perch, mind lost in thought. So Pitch was back. Out of everything that was happening, he had to come back and make a reappearance. Had they not humiliated him enough last time? Did he really want another beating so soon? That man just didn't know when to give up.
He suddenly felt exhausted and jumped down into the sleigh, taking a seat in the back corner. It was probably from the adrenalin leaving him. That's what it was. He would just sit and relax for a few minutes while they flew back to the Pole to form a plan of what to do with Pitch. No big deal. Without processing what was happening, his eyes began to slip closed, missing the shadowy figure of a nightmare following them in the distance.
His feet had barely touched down on the frozen surface of his lake when he knew something was wrong. It was early morning; the sky paled an overcast grey, dulling the land that was still holding the final throws of autumn. The forest was silent, not a whisper disturbing the shadowy forms of the dead trees and piles of aged stained leaves curled around the bases.
Cautiously he stepped out, casting wary eyes around at his surrounding, getting a strange feeling of déjà vu. Everything was still and quiet which only placed him more at unease. He looked longingly over his shoulder at the glinting surface of the lake that he usually rested on before turning his back and creeping further in to the trees. The sooner he found out what was wrong- for he was certain that the feeling was true- he could get back to his lake.
Suddenly there was a strange whirl of motion around him and the world fell into darkness. He screwed his eyes shut against the expected hard impact but instead felt many light gentle forms trickle around him. He opened his eyes to be met with the same darkness but it wasn't as suffocating as he had expected it. By simply shifting his arms whatever that was surrounding him shifted easily, falling away with a faint rustle. Frowning at the poor attack he shook his head and spread his arms out to escape from the pitiful prison. He was used to more violent surprise attacks from the other spirits, not this display, not that he wasn't grateful for the inexperienced spirit.
"Leaves?" he exclaimed in surprise when the objects finally cleared from his vision and he saw the pale orange shapes shift away. He was buried up to his neck now in them, in the middle of the barren forest. Giggling floated around him and he spun his head around wildly to catch sight of the source from where his head was poking out from the autumn pile.
A small figure leapt down from the tree opposite him, clad in red and brown, long red-brown hair swirling around her, shimmering in the light causing a mirage between the two colours as she landed lightly on bare feet at the base of the tree.
"Your face," she gasped between giggles and his guard fell immediately, deflating at the sight of her.
"May?" He questioned, hardly believing his eyes at the sight. It had been a whole year since he had last seen her, and in that time he had taken her to have been the basis of some desperate dream or hallucination from his damaged mind caused by the centuries of solitude.
"Who else? The tooth fairy?" rolling mahogany eyes, she strolled casually up to him, eyes gleaming at her prank- for that was what Jack took it for. "You haven't forgotten me already?"
"How could I forget you? You're the only one to actually talk to me in hundreds of years," Jack pointed out, pausing in his attempt to escape the hold of the leaves.
The glow in her eyes faded and she looked downcast, pulling at the cuffs of her jacket. A strange feeling pulled at his heart and he decided he didn't like it when she look like that, lost the happy spark in her nature. "I know." She sighed, refusing to meet his eyes, "It's wrong. I'm sorry for the others, I know some of my own fellow seasonals are to blame," she shrugged half-heartedly, "Seasons are family, though its not like I can do anything only the head of the season has control of the other spirits…well usually…"
Jack couldn't help but snort at that statement. He had no control over the winter spirits; in fact they seemed to despise him more than the rest, they wouldn't listen to him if their life depended on it. May only shrank in on herself at the sound.
Not being able to stand the appearance of his only possible friend- no that wasn't right, he barely knew the girl, he couldn't afford friends and he wouldn't be able to stand it when they turned on him, as they inevitably would, he knew he wouldn't be able to stand his heart breaking when he was finally betrayed and abandoned- he shook his free hand that didn't hold his staff and a perfect round snowball formed in his palm. Unable to keep the mischievous smirk from gracing his lips he launched it with perfect aim.
May let out a gasp, stumbling backwards as the compact snow hit her squarely in the side of the head. Her chestnut eyes flashed as her gaze met his again and before he could react, the leaves swirled up around him, burying him anew in the large pile of fallen leaves. Jack clapped his hands together over his staff and a great burst of wind exploded around him, scattering the leaves all around the before clear woodland. He turned to give her an arrogant grin at the ease at which he had escaped but when he caught her eyes she burst out laughing, clutching her stomach and eyes shining with amusement.
Jack frowned blankly at her as her ringing melodic laugh echoed in the air, filling him with warmth that he hadn't felt before. He grinned back at her, finding the sound of her laugh liberating and filled him with pride and happiness at having been the cause of the joy. For a moment a flash of memory of a younger girl laughing in the same way at something he had done or said filled his vision, chestnut eyes squeezed shut and straggly brown hair falling across her face, someone close that had meant so much to him…but he dismissed the thought. He hadn't known anyone in all his years, let alone made them laugh. He came to the decision that he would make it his job to make her laugh more, to lighten at least somebody's life if just to hear her laugh.
The sound of her laugh, free and harmonious in the hollow forest, unbound and inviting filled his senses as he was slowly dragged back to consciousness, the glint of glee in her deep mahogany eyes lingered in his mind a moment longer.
"Jack? Come on, wake up ya bludger. What's wrong?"
Jack jolted awake at the pressure on his bruised shoulder sending waves of stabbing pain through him, desperately shoving away the assailant attacking him.
"Whoa, stop it. It's just me."
Jack's mind resurfaced to the present, eyes flying open to reveal the wild cerulean orbs that flickered madly from each Guardian's concerned faces, excluding North who was still flying the sleigh. His heart was thudding wildly in his chest and he didn't realise he had his staff aimed defensively in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed his tense muscles, lowering his staff and turned to face the voice that had pulled him from his dream.
"What's wrong Jack? Why're ya so jumpy?" Bunny questioned, face creased into a deep frown, "Are you okay?"
Was he okay? Jack almost laughed at the stupidity of the question. Was he okay? Of course he wasn't okay. To start with he was in constant pain from all the injuries he had, yet he was still being dragged around on a mad hunt for nightmares, Pitch had returned despite their best efforts to send him back to the dark hole in which he had hatched from. Then, of course, there was his fragile mental state now from the assault of memories that he had desperately tried to suppress after…the incident. He felt physically drained and had no idea why and the throbbing headache had refused to dissipate from the swelling on the back of his head. Was he okay? There was no way he should be okay.
"Yeah, fine," Jack replied blithely. Under the sceptical look that answered, he cringed and tugged on the hood once more to ensure that it was still successfully hiding his face. Maybe it would be a good idea to just come clean. At least then he may get some peace and alleviate the strain they were unknowingly putting him under. He wasn't being lazy; he was just getting so tired.
He was about to open his mouth and admit defeat when he caught sight of something shifting against the inky blackness of the night. "Nightmare," he exclaimed pointing in the direction of the shadow darting at great speed along the skyline.
"Wha-" Bunny spun in surprise, squinting into the darkness until emerald eyes focused on the nightmare.
"We follow," North declared, whipping the reigns to urge the burly reindeer onwards and towards the flitting shadow, steadily narrowing the distance between them. Bunny let out an involuntary yell as he was thrown backwards and paws clutched tightly to the side of the sleigh to keep his balance and not get thrown off. Jack managed a chuckle at his friend's discomfort before focusing back on the chase. The Wind steadied him as the sleigh sped after the speeding shadow, jerking dangerously as it was buffeted by the strong wind and sudden turns as the nightmare pivoted and raced in a seemingly random direction and the sleigh dived after it.
Then the nightmare was flying over deserted fields, shrouded in darkness it vanished. The sleigh didn't slow for a moment, as they searched the blank sky for a sign of the dark horse.
"Where is it? Where'd it go?" Bunny called fiercely.
"It was right in front of us," Tooth replied from the opposite side of the sleigh where she was hovering a few feet off the bottom of the sleigh in exasperation at the disappearing shadow.
A burst of sand sparked the darkness of the night as Sandy added his input but Jack was too distracted to pay much attention to it.
"Look out!" He shouted, pointing to the blur of shadow that was shooting directly for the sleigh, not braking pace for a second, resolutely set on a collision course with them.
North let out a yell as he yanked the reigns upwards and the reindeer shrieked in surprise, pulling wildly on their harnesses, fleeing in different directions before finally forcing their way upwards. The sleigh tipped suddenly, throwing the front upwards and sending it vertically into the air, not a problem for those of the Guardian's gifted with flight but the other two…
North managed to latch onto the front of the sleigh, reigns still tightly held in one hand, his knuckles turning white, his legs slipping from the floor of the sleigh.
A strangled cry tore through the wind and Jack caught sight of grey fur tumbling past him, falling over the edge into nothingness and flailing for something to grab onto which was not there.
"Bunny!"
Jack froze in horror at the grey form that was tumbling ever further downwards, still trying to find something to stop his fall, yell ripped away by the wind before it could reach them, as the cascading shadow of land rose up to engulf him.
Chapter 4 is here! Hope you enjoyed it and please, please, please review! I am running out of ready edited chapters to publish so I will try to work harder but I am back to school so finding time for writing will be more difficult-apologies for leaving the chapter here. I hope you begin to like May, I'm adding the memories slowly but there are more later on and they will get more exciting than the small glimpses that I have given already (chapter 9 memory is one of my favourites so far). Felt the need to mention that italics are memories, though here in the form of dreams not all of them will appear as such.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed and please let me know what you think of this chapter! It will speed up my updates knowing that someone actually cares about this story still.