Just so that everyone knows that some parts will be omitted out for this site, due to its impossible standards on what should be featured in a mature rated story. The uncut version will be featured on AO3. I would like to apologize for the long period of absence, I have school and other matters to worry about.
Flicker Chapter 4
Bunny stared out one of the windows around the globe room, searching the sky for something. He was leaning against the frame of the windowsill that served as a seat, with his paws behind his head and large feet crossed in front of him. It was rare nowadays that they were the ones seeking out for his insight, but this is a special case when there is this Flicker guy running about. North had sent word out to the Moon as soon as Bunny returned and relayed the info that not only Jack is safe but there might be a possibility that Flicker was seen around Jamie's house.
With the possibility of a child being harmed in mind, along with Jack's safety, they quickly get into gear by not only looking guidance to the Moon but also to research some information. North had disappeared into his studies to search anything on fire spirits, and Sandy had accompanied him for assistance.
Now, all he had to do was to keep an eye out for their leader's appearance.
Which he was taking his sweet time with by the way…
"Hurry up and come out, Moon." Bunny grumbled, his patience was wearing thin.
He looked down at the little frozen bird on his lap, briefly wondered what Jack was doing with Jamie at this moment.
Ever since Jamie Bennett, the very boy that practically saved them from disappearing from existence, reached to his teen years, Bunny had learned a few interesting things about teenagers. He sometimes came across them making out in some hidden place in the woods. In fact, the only time he ever saw teens outside is when they were doing unspeakably dirty things with one another.
Don't get him wrong, he did care deeply for Jamie. He was one of the rare cases of children still retained his belief in him and the other guardians even in adulthood. There was a slim possibility that he hadn't become anything like those sexually active kids. However, for some reason, the knowledge of him being alone with Jack right now bothered him.
Maybe I'm being overprotective. He thought to himself. Then he paused as he replayed that thought. Actually, I'm being crazy. Jack doesn't need my protection from teenagers…I should be more concerned with Flicker right now.
Why is it that every time he sat and think about Jack Frost, his mind went out of whack?
This can't be love…love is supposed to be a wonderful, heartwarming experience.
Then again, part of Bunny's conflicting thoughts could be due to the fact of the possibility of his and Jack's relationship might be one-sided. At least, from what he knew…
Jack did, however, act strangely on some occasions. One time in his Warren, they were talking and relaxing in a flower patch. Before either one of them knew it, Jack had fallen asleep against him. By accident…at least that was what Bunny had assumed at that time. The youngest guardian looked very comfortable though, as he watched the boy snuggle closer to him, burying his face into the soft grey fur while asleep.
There was another time after Bunny had disappeared for a while. He had been beyond and deep within the Warren, investigating why some of his eggs were disappearing. And he didn't know that Jack had come over to visit at that time. When he finally found him, the poor boy looked devastated, like he had expected to find Bunny mauled or ripped to bits by some kind of monster.
Jack wouldn't leave his side for three days straight after that incident, until Bunny convinced him enough that he was fine.
However, he overlooked all of those things as being normal for close friends. Then again, if he could actually think straight this time…
Bunny looked down at the little bird and saw it snuggle fondly into his grey fur, reminding him of that day.
These icelings were supposed to have a part of Jack in them, right?
Bunny shook his head and lightly thumped it against the wall behind him. He was thinking way too far into things. He really needed to relax…
"Bunny?" a familiar voice suddenly spoke up. The Pooka jolted a bit and his head snapped to the side to find Tooth hovering next to him.
'Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." She apologized as she placed a delicate hand upon his shoulder.
Bunny blinked a few times before stretching his neck and rolled his shoulders a bit, releasing some tension that he was feeling. "It's fine, what's the matter?" His voice sounded a bit groggy, and had lost track of time on how long he was sitting in the same spot.
"I'm just worried," She began, looking nervous. "You don't think that Flicker would do anything to Jack while he's with Jamie, do you?"
The rabbit-like creature shook his head as he leaned back against the wall. "Nah, but even if he did, Jack is strong," he reassured her. "He won't let anything happen to Jamie, and I'll be going back to get him in a few hours anyway."
Easy for him to say that, he knew he was being a hypocrite. He spent the entire day worrying about Jack in every way possible, and it was almost close to sundown…
"So where is he?" Bunny asked, looking out of the window. Tooth knew that he was referring to the Moon; she let out a sigh as she looked out of the window as well. He was taking longer than she thought…
Then the sound of doors bursting open caused her to puff out her feathers in surprise as she practically went up in the air in practically a few feet, despite of her rapid hovering. Tooth whipped around to find North and Sandy coming in, with arms full of books and some random parchments.
"I've found it!" The Santa Claus figure boasted as he placed the stack upon the floor before picking off the top book off to hold up into the air for the other two guardians to see. Sandy placed his fists on his sides and gave North a quizzical stare, silently saying "YOU found it?"
"Errr…Sandy helped me find it…" he quickly corrected himself, satisfying the sandman greatly.
"Find what exactly?" Bunny spoke up, not bothering to move his place by the window. This might be good, given to how long North and Sandy had been searching through his study which housed ENOUGH books to fill up the Smithsonian. (Though, North claimed that it was only 1/8th of the book collection that he brought along with him from Santoff Claussen…)
"The answer to our questions…" North replied in a hushed tone, waving his open hand in a circle. The Pooka rolled his eyes for his love of big dramatic moments. Luckily, he didn't need to speak to get to the point already as Tooth groaned in annoyance.
"What IS that book, North?" She asked.
"Creatures from the Land of the Dark Ages." North held up the cover for Tooth to see the title which was written in what seemed to be ink. The said book seemed thicker and bigger than it looked since North's large fingers barely wrapped it. Its age was shown in its appearance with the blackened cover having bits of velvet hanging off at the sides. It seemed it wasn't opened in ages, eons perhaps, due to the fact that it was covered in dust and have a musky odor that Tooth drew away a bit. Bunny cursed himself briefly for having sensitive senses.
"So, that thing is gonna tell us how to deal with this Flicker?" Bunny questioned, his ears twitching a bit.
"No," North replied, shaking his head. "It will help us understand Flicker. There is a difference."
The Pooka snorted at this. Of course…that book will help you to understand a thing or two about a possible dangerous evil spirit but it won't tell you how to stop one!
"You're saying that Flicker is some sort of creature from the Dark Ages?" Tooth asked, hovering about. The only being that they had known from the Dark Ages was Pitch Black, and that was it. They hadn't seen any other spirit from that era.
"He may be…." North replied before lifting the book in order to turn to the page that he bookmarked with a satin ribbon and read the contents. "As the Lust and Greed of Mankind arises into the sky and burns out against the Sun, then a being of two sins shall be created. One that hath stolen the very flames from the Sun itself, and will journey upon the Earth for the single soul who can settle its burning fire and become one with the desires in its heart…"
Bunny sat up and focused upon the ground as he listened, having become interested about halfway through the paragraph.
"What is that a description of?" Tooth spoke up. Her voice was soft as her feathers ruffled with anticipation, unsure if she would like the answer. North flipped the open book around so that they could all see the words in large print at the very top of the page:
Demons of the Sun.
"You think that Flicker is some sort of…demon?" The Tooth Fairy asked, her voice was hushed and fearful.
North let out a loud hum as he flipped the book around to reread the contents again. "I don't know, but it's the only thing we could find what had to with fire spirits and whatnot."
"What else does it say?" Bunny spoke up anxiously, standing up as soon as the bird flew off and perched upon the windowsill.
The Guardian of Wonder only shrugged as he skimmed the chapter. "Eh…it is a very old book, filled with plenty fake legends and silly…"
"What. Else. Does. It. SAY?!" Each word that Bunny spoke out was emphasized in a harsh tone like they were separate sentences as he stalked towards him, until he was directly in front of North. The other guardians exchanged worried glances to each other, silently giving Bunny the answer that it was all North could find. A heavy sigh escaped from his lips as the Pooka crouch down while pinching the bridge of his nose.
Well, you had to start somewhere…
"It said the thing will 'search the Earth for the single soul who can settle its burning fire'…" Bunny repeated the passage carefully, speaking mostly to himself. After giving it thought, he finally came up the one conclusion. "What if that soul is Jack? Ice and snow settles fire right?"
"But it could be also be a metaphor of some sort," Tooth suggested. "The phrase "…settle its burning fire" could mean anything."
"And you know how these old books are full of those." North added. Sandy nodded in agreement with them.
"Well, whatever, it still sounds a lot like this Flicker bloke, and it's the only thing we have so far! So what else does it say!?" Bunny stood up and took long strides over to North and tried to tug the book out of his hands to see himself but the former bandit's grip is too strong.
"Err…about that…" North spoke with hesitation before lowering the book for him to see for himself. Bunny's long ears went back in irritation when he saw that the rest of the page was so worn that it was unreadable, the ink were completely faded away. However he did make out a picture of what looked like a flower towards the bottom.
"What do ya suppose that would be?" he asked while pointing a furry finger at the image. Sandy and Tooth both respectively hovered and floated up behind them to peer at the page as well. The Sandman cocked his head to the side as a two sand images of a flower and a question mark appeared above Sandy's head.
They all continued to stare at the page for a while, trying to make out what remains of the chapter said, inspecting it further. Tooth noticed that the room is getting brighter and then she looked up, and let out a loud gasp to catch everyone's attention.
"Look!" she explained, pointing towards the ceiling.
As soon as they all turned around, lo and behold, the Moon appeared in the night sky, greeting them with rays of moonlight that lit in a circle across the floor. They stood before him as North addressed the Man in the Moon with open arms.
"Manny! Thank goodness, come! Please help us figure out what to do about this spirit called Flicker."
Nothing happened for a moment, there was only stillness and silence. This made Bunny wonder if the Man in the Moon was even going to speak with them. His assumptions are proven wrong-thankfully- when a bright beam appeared in the middle of the circle, slowly flowing and changing form. They all leaned in closer and once the image was done forming, they could see a shadow silhouette of a man with what looked like flames dancing off of his features.
"Is that him?" Bunny asked as he, along with North and Sandy, looked up to Tooth.
The Tooth Fairy Queen nodded her head before looking back to see more beams of light appeared inside of the circle. These ones orbited around the first one and slowly took shape until three shadow silhouettes of flowers circled around the image of Flicker, each bearing four plump petals with a small flame at their centers.
"It's that flower again…" North spoke softly.
"But there are three of them." Tooth added.
The image remained for a while and Bunny was left confused. From the book, it only reveals one flower. He stared up at the Moon, expecting more of an explanation.
"I don't get it…what are you tryin' to say? What do these flowers mean?"
All he received was silence, but then the light grew brighter, causing him to return his gaze back to the image of Flicker to find it changing again, until they were all looking at the familiar silhouette of a certain Bringer of Winter. Only difference is that the three flowers were orbiting around him now. Bunny stared with eyes widen with horror as his heart began beating rapidly.
Oh, Mim…
"This is…" Tooth began.
"It's a warning." North finished the sentence for her.
Suddenly the little ice bird flew towards Bunny from the window and began pecking at his arm frantically.
"Whoa, whoa, what is it?" Bunny questioned before catching the small creature in his paws, trying to coax any form of answer out of it. But it was flapping its wings about as it managed to chirp rapidly.
"Is there something wrong?" The fairy asked as she hovered over to him, her feathers were ruffling up in worry.
"I don't know…" he responded honestly as he stared at the small bird. Since this one contained its own portion of Jack's magic, in a way it could communicate with its fellow icelings. And judging by how it was reacting, it might mean something is wrong.
"I'm gonna go check on Jack."
With that, he stomped his foot on the ground, harder than usual, then disappeared down his tunnel with the bird still clutched in his hands.
"Hold on a second!" North exclaimed as he hurried after him. But he was too late, the hole quickly closed as soon as he was about to reach it. He looked back at Tooth and Sandy, both looking at a loss on what to do and filled with concern on what is going on as the Moon stopped shining and the images on the floor disappeared.
What should we do? North thought to himself. Bunny would most likely need back up…
When he turned around, he saw a few of his yetis poking their heads into the entrance of the Globe Room, curious to what is going on. And then…an idea formed into his head. Since they are going up against fire, they might need some appropriate ammo.
But first thing's first…
"Prepare the sleigh!"
Jamie snuggled onto his bedspread as the coolness from Jack's body sent goose bumps up his arms. After the movie -whose title that Jack had forgotten, something about a bunch of girls and guys in a singing contest- they both lay down upon the bed, and talked about pretty much random stuff, mostly catching up, until it was dark outside. Jamie rested his head against the pillow, staring back into Jack's glowing blue eyes that he practically lose himself into them. He moved closer to him as he drew his arms around the spirit's waist while moving head to Jack's lean chest.
"You'll get cold, Jamie." Jack cautioned him, though he brought an arm around the younger boy to return the embrace.
"I like being cold." The brunet teen replied with a yawn, snuggling closer to him.
The winter spirit couldn't help but smile as he focused to raise his body temperature. He allowed the room to warm him up, but not enough to cause him any harm. Just moderate enough to make Jamie more comfortable. The chestnut-brown haired youth sighed with content, listening to the soothing sound of the spirit's heart beating slowly next to his ear. His mind was filled with thoughts of Jack as he inhaled through the latter's blue sweater, taking in the scent of the misty forest and something else that Jamie couldn't place his finger on but it was soothing nonetheless.
It was quiet in the room now. Jamie's body temperature was making Jack lethargic, making him sigh sleepily and allowed his eyes to close. It had been a while since he had a good night sleep…most of the time he slept in the trees.
As he slept, Jamie took the opportunity to examine the peaceful look upon the spirit's face and blushed shyly.
This is it…it was now or never.
"Hey, Jack?" he whispered.
"Hm?" came a tired reply from Jack, he didn't even open his eyes when the younger boy spoke.
Jamie licked his lips, as he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do.
"Do you want to play a game?"
As soon as he spoke those magical seven words, Jamie instantly saw a flash of blue and then Jack was looking down at him with a familiar mischievous grin.
"What kind of game?" Jack felt more awake now. It had been a long time since he had actually played with Jamie, rather than just hang out and talk to him. Honestly, he missed those times when Jamie reached to his pre-teen years.
Jamie swallowed a lump forming in his throat and smiled up at him.
"It's called Nervous."
Jack frowned at this. That didn't sound very fun…
"You play like this," Jamie spoke as he snaked a hand under Jack's blue hoodie, swirling his finger around the cold stomach before poking at the spirit's belly button. The action made the latter chuckle and squirmed away from him as a response.
"See? Now you just lost."
Jack blinked at him before looking down at himself. "Huh?"
How exactly did he lose?
"Because you got nervous," Jamie explained, smiling cheekily.
"I'm not nervous! Just ticklish!" Jack protested childishly, making Jamie laugh.
"It doesn't matter," Jamie grinned. "If you move away, you automatically lose the game. But if you stay still the whole time, you win."
Jack couldn't help but pout at this information. "Sounds easy, you should have said the rules earlier."
Jamie chuckled once more before pushing away from Jack a little, his heart beating rapidly in anticipation. "You go first.'
The winter spirit studied his favorite believer for a second, confused as to why his cheeks had turned red. He did notice him blushing for a while now. Maybe it was a fever? No…that couldn't be it. Maybe it was the heat.
Figuring that he would worry about that later, a sinister grin split his face before suddenly attacked the boy's neck with cold, wiggling fingertips. The trick is to make the other move right? Jamie yelped in surprise and started giggling at the sensation but he didn't' move away from Jack's hands.
"Hmm…" Not what he was expecting, but it was a good start.
"Piece of cake," Jamie murmured, almost sounding smug.
"Oh, really?" Jack smirked darkly. Well, truly he is a worthy adversary…but he will soon learn that he would rue the day that he challenge him! He trailed his cold hands downward and slipped them up underneath Jamie's shirt before tickling his sides. Jamie was laughing loudly and harder now, but amazingly, he hadn't moved an inch from the spot. His body was still stiff as a board against the mattress.
Of course…Jack's idea of this game is the fear of being tickled. Jamie thought as he was attacked by Jack's fingers. But never the less, it felt really nice to feel the soothing cold upon his skin.
Jack pondered for a moment on how to win this game before an idea came to his mind. He slipped both of his hands out of Jamie's shirt before roughly pushed on Jamie's stomach, causing the boy to fall off of the bed with a loud THUMP.
"I win!" Jack cheered as he sat up, throwing his hands up in victory.
"That's because you cheated!" Jamie accused him, though he was laughing in jest as he pulled himself back onto the bed.
"Not my fault that you didn't explain the rules well enough." For an added measure, Jack stuck his tongue out in a childish way.
Then Jamie crossed his arms and gave the spirit a mock-glare. They have a mini-stared contest until Jack sighed as he rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner. "Fine, fine, you win this round." Then he gave him his own mock glare. "But I will not forget this declaration of war."
Jamie laughed a bit as he scooted closer to the spirit. "It's my turn now." He said.
Jack straightened his body out as he sat cross-legged as he placed his hands upon his knees, surrendering to Jamie's game. However he had a confident look on his face as he smirked at him. "Good luck" is what he said.
(This scene is considered too graphic for this site, as said in the notice, please go to the AO3 version, thank you)
No words could describe Jack's reaction to this. In short, he was off the other side of the bed a second later.
"Ha! I win!' Jamie cheered, throwing his hands up in victory. But his smile quickly fell when he saw that he had gone too far. There upon the floor, Jack's eyes were wide and his face was a mixture of surprise and confusion as he looked down at himself then back to Jamie. There was a strong dull sensation twist within his stomach when he had an eyeful of what he had done.
"…I…I'm sorry…" Jamie apologized, immediately regretting on his decision. "I'm sorry, that was mean of me, I shouldn't have done that…"
Why…why did he have to go to do that?! To his best friend, nonetheless! As Jamie apologized, Jack was still in shock, processing on what happened. Never in 300 years of his life had anybody touched him down there. In fact, he never touched himself.
And then there was his body temperature…
"Jack?" Jamie's voice broke into his train of thoughts.
Jack blinked as he looked up to find Jamie looking down at him, reminding him of a kicked puppy. He took a deep breath and exhaled to regain his composure before crossing his arms and turned his head to the side in a pout. "Hmph…that was a cheap shot," he huffed.
This seemed to ease Jamie a little. "You aren't mad?"
Jack stuck his tongue out in response, making the younger boy giggle. He then floated back to the bed with him and then poked Jamie in the head with his finger.
"Hands to yourself, young man." He scolded in a teasing and orderly tone.
Jamie grinned at him cheekily as he set his legs into a cross-legged fashion. "Heh, ok, but I still won."
Jack gaped at him with his mouth wide open, almost resembling a fish. "No way! You cheated worse than I did!"
Jamie let out a laugh, inwardly glad that Jack wasn't angry at him. "Ok, ok, it's a tie then." He managed to breathe out as he reduced to snickers.
Jack grumbled before turning his head away. "Geez, teenagers these days...with their weird games and their…" then he was cut off when he felt familiar pain wash over him hard, Jack winced as he gripped his forehead. Damn it, what now?!
Jamie instantly stopped laughing and noticed this, before instantly grabbing onto his arm in concern. "Jack, are you ok?!" his voice was slightly panicked and he was debating on what to do in this situation. Does he try to ask for North or someone?! Do they have doctors?!
Jack took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose a few times, forcing himself to block out the pain pounding inside of his head before turning to Jamie with his usual smile, hoping that it didn't look forced.
"Y-yeah, just a message," he reassured him. "It looks like I have to take off early."
Jamie's face fell as he pouted. "Aww…" He let out a childish whine as Jamie released his hold on Jack's arm in disappointment, his shoulders fallen. He was looking forward to have Jack sleep next to him tonight.
"Yup, sorry, bud, duty calls." He hated to lie to him, but if his few months of experiencing this kind of pain taught him something…it would mean something was up. And keep it away from Jamie as far as possible. He jumped off of the bed and flipped his staff up with his foot and into his palm. Just as he was about to head out for the window, Jamie stopped him when he felt his arm sleeve being tugged. Jack looked over and saw the younger boy looking up to him with a mixture of sadness and worry.
"I really am sorry…about before." His voice sounded meek, almost younger as he looked up him with an apologetic look on his face.
It only took two seconds for Jack to know what he was talking about, and it hurt him that Jamie thought that he was leaving because of the "cheap shot" he pulled. He smiled down at him as he placed a comforting hand upon the mop of brown hair.
"Don't worry about it."
It was short, but it was enough to reassure him that that there are no hard feelings, making Jamie smiled sweetly at him and nodded. Jack would only hope that he wouldn't be upset after this and maybe, just maybe, things wouldn't be awkward between them. He paused halfway out of the window to give Jamie a reassuring wave before flying off to the street. When his bare feet touched the pavement, he took the moment to collect himself before the pain shot through his brain. Jack grabbed his head as he kept his balance, trying to clear the fuzziness and pain that was still blurring his vision.
It's him…there was no doubt about it.
Alright…now where is he?
He then jumped into the air and flew a few blocks down before zipping sideways into the forest.
Jack knew which animal had been destroyed and the place it should have been was…
He landed softly upon the grass, and saw the remains of an ice deer a few feet away. Its crystal eyes of the decapitated head stared blankly at him among the broken pieces. The stream of blue magic still hovering near the rubble suddenly shot back into Jack's chest. He instinctively placed his hand over his chest, frowning sadly that another one of his creations was destroyed. Before he had a chance to think, another rush of pain entered his head again, causing him to groan and fell to one knee. It was like a series of someone tapping something blunt into his brain, and it was getting worse by the minute.
He look forward to see more pieces of ice drop to the ground as a familiar figure stepped out from behind the trees, black shoes burning up the grass with each step. Jack glared at the figure as he managed to croak out the name.
"…Flicker…"