Author's Note: Hello everyone and welcome back to "The Winter Child!" =D This is the last arc for this one-shot collection. ='D I really can't believe how far this story has come, but I'm kind of excited for it to be done. XD I have a lot of other fanfics that I want to get to writing/posting. =)
Anyway, that's all I've got to say right now, so I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
~ LXXXV ~
We Are Family, Part One
Pitch planned to make his return
And what a spectacle it would be
Jack and the Guardians were at the palace
Trying to plan his defeat
...
Tomorrow, Pitch would return to finally claim Lunslruna as his own. Oddly, though, there weren't any foreboding warnings or suspicious shadow activity, and none of the children reported any nightmares.
Jack had long learned to label these subtle things as suspicious. Pitch was known for working in the dark, keeping to the shadows, and biding his time. Then he would strike whenever least expected.
But this time, Pitch had given out the date of when he'd make his return. He even gave the Guardians a grace period to prepare, which no one had been expecting. It was rarer than gold for Pitch to ever give one mercy. But the Guardians thought of this as a time of anticipation…a time to anticipate the coming doom.
The adults had been in a tizzy. The children were fretful. No one knew how they could prepare for the inevitable. Right now, the children and Ombric were beneath the village hidden in Aster's tunnels. Katherine had stayed behind with them, knowing that her place was better off there than with the Guardians to the capitol. Ombric had just magically been revived, so Jack understood why she'd want to stay close to him. So, he and the Guardians had made their way to Lunslruna Capitol to discuss plans, and they had been there for nearly a month now.
The accommodations were pleasant, and Jack had never experienced such pampering. He was unfamiliar with it all, though he didn't fuss about it. A part of him quite enjoyed it, but he didn't bask in pleasure for long. He and the Guardians were there on a mission. They needed to find a way to stop Pitch and fast.
According to that prophecy—well, not a prophecy but Tsar Lunar's statement himself, he was somehow the key to defeating Pitch, although Jack had no idea how. Tsar Lunar had explained to him that he had been considering a snow sprite for a long time to become a Guardian. But the fires and attacks were so unexpected, that he didn't have the time to properly select one.
And I guess he's just working with what he's got, thought Jack as he walked down the hall. Even if I could defeat Pitch, we have no idea where he is. And honestly, I don't want to stand up to him.
Jack had had enough encounters with the Boogeyman in the past. And those few encounters alone were enough. He didn't want to admit to himself —to anyone for that matter, but he was the tiniest bit afraid of the Nightmare King. Just a little, nothing more.
Pitch's presence was known to make even the bravest of soldiers feel fretful. But Jack couldn't blame his fear on just Pitch's aura; it was because of his history with the snow sprites.
Pitch had so proudly boasted that he was responsible for the snow sprite's demise. Any hope of finding his parents had been shattered at that moment. Jack couldn't imagine their looks of terror as they were overwhelmed by the Fearling's control. They could be any one of them. Perhaps he had already slashed them through with his staff during one of their battles.
Jack pursued his lips, his feet taking him to the gathering room while his mind was elsewhere. If they did defeat Pitch, what were they to do about his army? Was there any way that they could turn the corrupted snow sprites back to normal? Or was all hope lost?
Jack didn't want to believe it, but he didn't think anyone wanted anything to do with the Fearlings, regardless of them being former citizens. Everyone saw them as monsters, and perhaps monsters they would stay.
Jack sighed, and he pushed the door to Tsar Lunar's room open. He no longer called it a study (for it was far too large to be considered so) and had privately dubbed it the "gathering room" since it was where he, Tsar Lunar, and the Guardians held most of their discussions. A simple name, but Jack liked the sound of it. The two words alone meant that something important was bringing them together, and required their attention.
The Guardians and Tsar Lunar were already inside. Joining them was the captain of the royal guard and some of his top soldiers. Jack greeted everyone politely and sat down, hoping that they would end with a clear solution instead of more questions.
"Thank you all for returning today," said Tsar Lunar. "Unlike our previous meetings, I am pleased to inform you all that we've found what we believe to be a suitable solution to stopping Pitch from causing further havoc."
"Really?" asked Tooth, eyes wide. Jack was surprised too. The reason for these meetings was to find a way to stop Pitch. But it looked like a solution had finally been found.
The head of the guard — Jack remembered his name to be Mercury, nodded. "Pitch may be powerful, but everything has a weakness. After studying our past encounters with him, we found one thing in common amongst them all."
"And that is?" asked Aster.
"Pitch only attacks at night," one of the guards answered. "His weakness is sunlight. In it, he's powerless. But once night falls, he's almost unbeatable."
The memory of being trapped in Big Root at eight years old with the village children flickered into Jack's mind. Pitch had disappeared right in front of them the instant sunlight began to break into the room. The snow sprite frowned. How come he hadn't recalled that sooner?
"But if sunlight is Pitch's greatest weakness, then how are we supposed to draw him out?" asked Tooth.
"We can figure that out once he pinpoints his location," North said. "If we do not know where he is, then we cannot formulate a clear plan." He turned to Sandy. "Did you and the scouts find anything?"
Sandy nodded, and dreamsand flickered over his head. "Pitch hasn't been staying in one place…he's been on the move this whole time," he said. "We have yet to track down where he's headed next, but we're working on it."
"At least we have tabs on him," said Tooth. She folded her hands on the table. "Now we just need a plan. If we lure Pitch into the sun, we'll be at an advantage, but I think he's smart enough not to try and set beyond his limits."
Aster sighed. "Another hindrance."
"What if we use that as an advantage?" Jack asked. Everyone turned to him. The snow sprite was still getting used to such attention, so he averted his eyes to the table. "Um… instead of trying to lure Pitch into daylight directly, we can fight him off at a certain time during the night and keep him distracted until morning."
"What would make him stay out for so long?" asked Mercury.
"Me," replied Jack. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Pitch has already made it clear that he wants revenge, and I think we all know who he's going to target first."
"So if Jack distracts Pitch long enough until sunrise, we'll be able to subdue him," said Aster. He crossed his arms. "Only thing we need to figure out now is how."
"I have the answer to that," said Tsar Lunar. He nodded at Mercury, and he pulled out a dark, sharp-edged stone and placed it on the table. There was an odd radiance coming off from the rock, but apart from that, it looked like an everyday stone.
"...We're going to throw a rock at him?" asked Jack.
Tsar Lunar smiled, amused. "No, Jack. We're going to encase him in rock." He tapped the stone with his staff. "This here is called dark matter. It's unbreakable and completely resistant to any kind of magic, including Pitch's. Once the daylight weakens him, we'll trap him inside of this, then keep him sealed away so he won't hurt anyone anymore."
It sounded like a good plan. A great plan. One that might just actually work.
So why did Jack feel as if something inauspicious would occur during it?
As questions were being asked and answered, North turned to Jack, who looked worried about what was to come. Th ex-Cossack softened with sympathy. This was Jack's first time outside of Santoff Clausen, and the snow sprite hadn't planned to leave because of a war with the Boogeyman.
The meeting had gone on for quite some time, so Tsar Lunar allowed everyone to take a brief break before returning to finalize things. The Guardians went to the library, where it was mostly empty except for a few people. Aster shook his head with a long sigh.
"I didn't think things would get this dire," he remarked.
Tooth hummed in agreement. "But at least we won't have to worry about Pitch once all this is over."
North looked at Jack, who was seated in a chair. "Moy mal'chik, you haven't said much. Is something on your mind?"
Jack looked up, and then his gaze dropped back to his feet. "Well…there is something."
Before North could ask what it is, Jack was already voicing his question. "If…if there's a possibility, when we capture Pitch of course, is it…Is it possible that I could talk to him?"
Out of everyone, Jack seemed the least likely who'd want to talk to Pitch. After everything the Nightmare King had done to him, none of the Guardians thought that he'd want to face him at all.
"Why do you want to talk to Pitch, Frostbite?" asked Aster, bewildered.
"Because he knew my parents," answered Jack. The Guardians were pierced by the desperation in his voice. "He knows what happened to them, and I want answers."
The Guardians were unsure. Pitch could be easily saying these things to manipulate Jack, but the boy had been wondering about his family for nearly all of his life. If there was even a chance that Pitch knew a fragment of information about his parents, the Guardians knew that Jack would take the chance to get it, no matter how dangerous.
"...We'll see what we can do," said North. It wasn't a yes, or a no, but the answer was enough to satisfy Jack. The time then came for them to return to the gathering room, where finalizations were made. Unfortunately, the dark matter trap could only work in close proximity, so Jack was tasked with the job of getting Pitch as close to the dark matter as possible. The snow sprite accepted the role.
The plan was rehearsed several times until it was engrained in everyone's minds. Finally, Tsar Lunar dismissed everyone, but before Jack exited with everyone else, the Tsar said, "Jack, I'd like to see you for a second."
Jack looked at the Tsar and then looked at North, who shrugged. He didn't know what the Tsar wanted. He gestured for Jack to over, and the snow sprite did. He felt a little awkward about the height difference.
"Come join me by the window," the Tsar said. Jack obediently followed the leader of Lunslruna and stood beside him in fron tof the large glass window. From here, you could see the people of Lunsluruna Capitol going about their daily business, and the golden gates of the city just further ahead. Beyond that were the forest paths, leading to different parts of the Tsardom. It was a lovely view, Jack had to admit.
"I know you've had a rough past intertwined with Pitch's," Tsar Lunar spoke. Jack turned to look at him. The Tsar looked up. "But I'm very grateful to have you here with us."
Jack's chest warmed; he had just been complimented by the Tsar! "You're welcome, Your Majesty. Anything to help the children."
Tsar Lunar nodded. "I didn't only call you back here to tell you that," he said. The short man smiled warmly. "I still want to make you a Guardian."
Jack hoped he didn't look too ridiculous in front of the Tsar. He knew that Tsar Lunar had considered making a snow sprite a Guardian, but Jack didn't think he'd make him one.
Jack laughed. "Ah…I appreciate the offer, but…aren't there certain requirements for me to fulfill the role? I mean, I don't even have a center. And all the Guardians have one of those. And I already told you, I'm not Guardian material."
Tsar Lunar hummed thoughtfully and he looked out the window. "A center isn't something that you get. It's something you find."
Sounds like something Ombric would say, Jack thought fleetingly. He was sure he didn't have a center, and if he did, he would be aware of it already. Tsar Lunar turned back to him and smiled.
"Think about it," he said. Then he dismissed Jack, and the snow sprite left the room.
As he headed to the dining hall, Jack's thoughts drifted back to Pitch. When he was captured, would he listen to Jack if he asked what happened to his parents? The snow sprite didn't know.
Tomorrow was another day that everyone was anxious about.
