Hi, guys. I'm bummed school's starting soon, I also can't wait. So since I'm going to be busy for the next month, I'm getting this chapter in to get you off that cliff hanger. I haven't updated because of christmas and what it gave me, the first three books to the guardians of childhood. I've read them all, so I might include some aspects from it in this fanfiction. Just to be clear, she can also fly like peter pan, her skeleton tracks are invisible and only she can use them. Enjoy!
I turned my head away, not wanting the Nightmare to be the last thing I see. I had a good run, a 6 hour run, mind you, but it was good. (I know you may think that's impressive, but I was hoping to be able to be on the run for a few days or weeks, plus 6 hours feels like 6 minutes to me. Talk about embarrassing!)
Just as I thought it was all over, I hear a shot from an icy blast and feel a cold wind. I don't hear the nightmare charging anymore, all I hear is someone panting. I lower my arm and slowly turn my head back, and guess who I see . . . It's Jack!
He lowers his staff, and turns to face me. "Good thing I got here when I did. Are you all right?" I'm still shaking from the shock the nightmare gave me, but I get up, slowly; then, without thinking, I pull Jack into a hug. I don't know exactly what it was that made me do it, maybe I lost my balance, but I did know one thing; I was so relieved after Jack came by and took out that Nightmare.
"Thank you, Jack!" I say with a sigh of relief, still hugging him. The relief turned to embarrassment after what Jack said next. "Why weren't you defending yourself?"
I didn't want to tell him I was sick, he never got sick. I pulled away from him and started shifting my feet and twiddling my thumbs.
"That's a good question. Here's a better one, How were you able to find me?" I asked trying to change the subject.
"I saw the flickering smoke from your illusionary campfire, when I was flying back to see you. I couldn't stop thinking about you for some reason; I was going to see if you were ready to talk. I see your flickering smoke upstate Pennsylvania, just as I'm wondering what you're doing upstate Pennsylvania; I look down and see you're getting attacked by a nightmare. Again, why weren't you defending yourself?" Back on the topic, couldn't get out of this one. I would have to tell him.
"Well….you see…I waaas sick" I said, mumbling the last word.
"You were what?"
"I Was Sick, Okay?" I hung my head in shame. Meanwhile, Jack was trying not to giggle. He was probably imaging me, covered in a blanket with a hot water bottle on my head and feet in warm water, sneezing up a storm. "How'd you get sick?"
"Well, I was flying under hot and cold currents really fast apparently, my powers started malfunctioning after that, but now I'm better, I think." To test that theory I pulled out my bow and an arrow, launched it at the place the nightmare disintegrated, making it look like steam rose up from it. "Yeah, all better. Oh, one more thing…" I tapped my head a few times. 'Mini-me, how are we looking in the Nightmare department; any more around?
'No, not at the moment, maybe that one was a scout or went off on its own.'
'Maybe we did Pitch a favor?" I thought, thinking how bad it would be for Pitch if his Nightmares weren't listening to him. How could I think like that? Bad Ema, Bad Ema!
'Well, at least we're connected again, that's good. Yep, I'm alright." I said the last part aloud. Something seemed to dawn on Jack. "I left you, 6 hours ago. How would you have been able to fly under currents?" The question seemed rhetorical, but maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was the fact that I knew something Jack didn't. He needed to know this, so I was going to tell him the truth, not the part where I almost wanted to join the side of the boogeyman, but the truth.
"Yeah, maybe an hour after you left, I went for a walk to calm down. On my walk, I came across the Nightmare king." I was going to be careful with names, because I was afraid if I said his name it would be a taboo and he would show up. On a similar note, Jack was okay with saying his name. "You saw Pitch! That is why a nightmare was attacking you!"
"Sort of, you see, I asked him what he was doing there; he said he returned to power. He also said he was looking for me, and he wanted to destroy me."
"Do you know why?"
"No," I fibbed. I wasn't exactly sure. Right now, all I think is it's because I didn't want to join his side, maybe there's more. Maybe when I turned him down it seemed like a threat. "He just wanted to destroy me out of the blue," I lied. I started to turn white. I had to cover it up. "I was so scared; I ran, made an illusion of me going to the Sahara and then went to find you." I got dry mouth, and Jack noticed.
"Your tongue's silver." Now you know folks, whenever I get dry mouth when I lie my tongue looks like it's made of silver. So, I guess you can say I have a silver tongue.
"You're lying," Jack continued. "I don't know what you're lying about, but you're lying about something." If you haven't noticed, I didn't tell him I went to Antarctica. I didn't want him to know about the nightmare.
"Does it really matter if you know or not?" I asked.
"It might," he replied.
"It doesn't to me," I fibbed. I was only telling him stuff that didn't bother me, and they needed to know. The stuff that really scared me was staying secret. "All that matters right now is that the Boogeyman is back and he's out to get me."
Jack seemed to ponder it, probably thinking of what to do.
"You need to tell the other guardians," I said. "The Nightmare king is a danger to every child and possibly every myth and legend. Right now, it's me who's in danger from him."
Jack finally spoke. "Ema, you should come with me, to the pole. It's best if you tell the Guardians everything that happened to you." He said, stressing everything. He wanted me to tell him what I wasn't telling him, but I wasn't going to, I don't know what he would think. I mean he never thought of turning, I did.
"Okay, I will." I lied. My hair started to turn chalky-white, just as I was starting to fade back to normal. I hoped he didn't notice, but if he did, he was probably going to be very relentless in trying to get me to talk. "I'll be safe at the pole, at least from Pitch." He looked at me questionably. "You're not the only one who caused trouble with the guardians." I smirked as he smiled. "Following in my footsteps are you?"
"What? Someone had to keep up the trouble. What are friends for?"
Jack and I were racing to the North Pole. He urged the wind to carry him faster; meanwhile I didn't need any wind to fly. We got closer and closer to the North Pole. I had a feeling I wasn't going to win so I made a skeleton track at the last minute and streamed toward the pole. I landed just outside the Pole, Jack landed beside me.
"I win!" I shouted, punching the air.
"Ah, you know I let you win, right?" he said, slyly.
"Yeah, I saw you stop… to gaze in awe of how amazingly fast I was going."
"All right; I have to admit. That skeleton track at the last minute well played."
"I know, I've out done, but I could do better. I was just going to start by letting you believe you were going to win, then at the very end; I zoom forward crushing your very last hopes of winning. That's my style."
"On that cheery note," he said sarcastically, "Let's go inside, shall we." He obviously did not want to talk about my victory over his defeat.
I landed inside the globe room with Jack; all the Guardians were surprisingly there. Were they having a get together? I was actually going to apart of a Guardians meeting! I never intruded one of those before. Now I could actually be looked at by more then one person, it's a great feeling. For this one moment, I won't be ignored.
"Ah, Jack, you're here." proclaimed North as I was gazing around in awe. "And I see, as well, you brought Ema." At that, I stopped gazing and turned to attention.
"What kept ya," asked Bunny. So, Jack was late because of me, I don't know what to feel for that. I do know one thing; Jack didn't tell me everything when he saved me from that nightmare. Hmm, like myth, like legend.
"Yeah…"said Jack as he was running his fingers through his hair, "Guys, something happened."
What is going on? More conversation of what's happening in the next chapter. Until then Happy new year and R&R.
