BIG CHAPTER ALERT! One of the longer ones, with lots going on it. I hope you enjoy.
Jack made it back to the pole, silent and downtrodden. One of his oldest friends was now gone; how was he going to tell the others? What especially haunted him were the last words his friend said to him. 'Ema fay is in trouble. Jack, you have to save her; save me.' Then his friend turned completely black, and…vanished.
Jack had figured Ema was probably freaking out at the time, so her speech pattern was scrambled. That's probably why she was talking in third person and second person more than first. He was still confused of what she meant by break the connection. What connection was she breaking? At the time he thought it was probably her connection to the real world, but what if it meant her connection to him, or something else entirely.
Most of what she was saying was confusing. She had talked about how she was only just an illusion and if she didn't let go she would be destroyed as well. Maybe she just said that so her destruction wouldn't be that terrifying to her. After that she wished herself goodbye, which he didn't like at all. He told her not to disappear on him, and that's when she said her last words.
Maybe she had reconsidered things and decided she didn't want to go anywhere after all, so she begged him to save her. Jack still felt bad that when she was begging for help, he couldn't do anything. Jack had then figured he should tell the guardians what had happened, even though he really didn't want to talk about it; he had failed to save his friend.
When he landed in the workshop, all the guardians saw that he was alone and feared the worst.
"Jack, what happened?" asked Tooth.
"Is Ema alright?" asked Bunny worriedly.
"Where is she?" asked North. Sandy made an image of Ema and an 'x' through it and a question mark, for no one wanted to say it.
"Ema's…gone," said Jack. "I couldn't save her." He leant on his staff for support, spreading frost on the floor. He remembered when Ema helped him make that terrifying. "Pitch…destroyed her." Everyone looked forlorn, even Mother Nature who found Ema annoying was disturbed of how her father dispatched her.
"She can't be gone for good, right?" said Bunny, being hopeful. "I mean we lost Sandy once, but he came back to us."
"Yes," said Tooth. "The Power of belief is pretty strong." Jack hated telling them the cold truth, but that's just how he did things.
"Pretty much no one believed in her when she was wiped out, and she has no believers to bring her back. No one knows who she is. Face it guys…she's gone." Sandy made some images of the moon and of Ema with her weapons drawn, and Pitch and then a question mark.
"You're right, Sandy," said Mother Nature. "She was said to aid you. In fact, the man in the moon said she had to aid you for you to succeed. Of course, now if it is said that Ema fay is destroyed, then I have no more business here." Jack clenched his staff tighter as the air got colder and he got angrier. How could Mother Nature not care about this? North placed a hand on Jack's shoulder to calm him down.
"We understand Emily," said North. "You may go. Hope to see you again." Mother Nature made a thin smile at that, and then left.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Tooth. "With Ema gone…"
"I'll tell you what we're going to do," said Bunny. "We can't let Pitch take over Halloween, so that plan stays the same. We stay as ready as we ever can be; alert as we possibly can, for who knows how or where the shadow crawler is going to strike first. We prepare ourselves for the fight of our lives, for we'll be fighting the scariest being alive on the scariest night of the year."
The guardians felt better after that speech for it instilled them with more hope than they felt they had before. Sure, their secret weapon may have been gone, but they weren't going to take this threat lying down.
"Thanks Bunny," said North. "We have one month to prepare for the attack. Hopefully, we don't run into any more problems." Once they had dispersed, Baby tooth went to check on Jack.
"I'm fine, Baby tooth," he said half-heartedly. "I just need to be alone for a bit."
Jack went to the roof of the pole. He felt worse than when they had lost Sandy. They couldn't even really throw Ema a memorial, for no one really knew her. Jack didn't even know her as much as he wished he did. The best they could do was to fight in Ema's name.
Jack knew he would be giving it his all the next time he saw Pitch. He was going to make him a Pitch-sicle; destroy every nightmare in his path. In the end though, it wouldn't bring Ema back. With his powers he created a blizzard around the pole and screamed Ema's name in the wind.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I couldn't save you." Then Jack Frost cried.
Over the next month, he did everything he could. He told Jaimie what was going to happen, so he would be ready with his family. He blew out rough winter storms wherever he went to practice for Pitch. What he mostly tried to do was try to get his believers to believe in Ema. He had no idea if it worked. Even though his believers said they would try to believe in her, even though he's barely mentioned her before, he never saw her pop up anywhere.
It was around the time to go up against Pitch, so Jack decided to visit Ema's tree again. It hurt knowing she wasn't there, but it seemed to be like a memorial to her.
"I really wish you were here," said Jack to the tree, frosting it. "We could really use your help."
He lay against the trunk, for a bit. Once he decided being there wasn't doing him any good, he went to leave, but then he noticed something in the corner of his eye. In a pile of leaves, were the words 'ac ros'.
Something like that, reminded him of Ema; 'ac ros' reminded him of the middle letters of his name. Did Ema leave a little illusion there for him? He did something on impulse, and added the remaining letters with frost.
The leaves then spun around and around until they formed an Ema made of leaves. Jack didn't know the purpose of this illusion, but he let it play out.
"Jack," it said.
"Ema," he said back hopefully.
"Remember this is an illusion," said the leaf Ema. "It's a message, made especially for you in case you haven't found me yet. I have to be in hiding."
"What is it?" he asked hopefully.
"Pitch is after me," it said. "He came across me not too long ago and threatened to destroy me. That's not important though, what is important is that he's coming back and the guardians should be ready for him. I don't want anything happening to anyone."
Jack sighed. Of course this message was from a while ago, probably after Ema first encountered him. He still let it play out; it was allowing him to hear Ema again.
"It's probably best you come and find me as well," said the leaf Ema. "I probably hate being in hiding by now and I could use a friend. I should also tell you everything I know about this. This illusion will show you where I am in the world so you can find me. Of course, there is the probability that Pitch has destroyed me by now. If that's the case, the illusion will have nothing to show you and dissipate." Jack assumed he knew which was going to happen.
"If I am gone," said the leaf Ema, "I should let you know a few things. You were the best friend I ever had, bar none. You were the friend I needed the most. We always had the most fun together, and I was so alone in the world. It's funny how things are when it's like that."
"Do you remember when I said you were like my brother? I really meant it. I never had a family; I was just made to be alone in the world. Someone like me would want something like that; something I couldn't create from my mind; something real. I never mentioned it again, because it seemed you didn't want us to be like that. I don't know why, but I'm sure it's a good reason."
"No one can ever replace you Jack, for you have your own place in my life. I'm sure the feelings mutual; otherwise it might've been a little harder for me to deny working with Pitch. I wouldn't work with him either way, but it's easier to be on the side of good with you."
"Pitch was twisting his words then," said Jack. He should have believed his friend.
"I don't really have anything left to say except maybe, thanks for being there for me in the hard times, thanks for being my friend, and thanks for being a part of my family. This illusion should show you where I am now, goodbye my friend. Goodbye Jack." The leaves fell apart. Jack knew the illusion was now over. He went to leave for the pole; he had to get ready with the other guardians for when Pitch made his attack, wherever it was.
Just as he went to leave however, he heard the leaves blowing around behind him. That didn't make sense; the illusion should have been over. There was nothing to show, because Ema was gone…wasn't she?
He turned around abruptly. He saw the leaves were forming a globe. A leaf that stood out from the others then landed itself on the bottom on the globe.
"Antarctica?" Jack questioned. He had already been to Antarctica a few times already, if she was there why hadn't he seen her? He thought about it. Then it all came clear.
She was in box that was buried in the snow. How did she get in there? She was probably tricked in there. Pitch knew her weakness and used it against her. That also meant that was an illusion he saw, which Pitch must have thought was the real thing too. Pitch shot it because he probably thought she escaped and was too powerful to handle. Luckily it was just an illusion and not the real deal.
The illusion wasn't talking in third person; it was actually talking about and to Ema somehow. It felt solid though; Ema must have made it like that to get her out of the box. The illusion's last words to save Ema for she was in trouble, it was talking about getting her out of the box. Of course what was it doing so far away from Ema, and why did it resent him? He could ask Ema later, after he found her and got her out of that box.
This was great! Ema was still alive!
How quickly I can go from one point to the other, sad to happy in one chapter. So what did you guys think? Tell me in reviews.
