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“It was a trap. Nidhogg knew we were coming to finish him,” Sera growled, her hands shaking from the battle. She glared at Pitch, who wasn’t looking at her. “We probably could’ve slipped under his army’s radar if we hadn’t been arguing.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t deny that,” he responded distractedly as his brow creased. He picked up two sticks, which had been lying under the remains of a plague spirit. She recognized them before his eyes widened. “Jack!” he cried.
“Jack’s gone, precious Boogeyman.” That was Jack’s voice, but that was definitely not Jack speaking. Everyone stopped moving as a black-haired, gold-eyed version of Jack Frost stepped among then, fresh blood running over rows of sharp teeth and down his chin. He wiped the blood on his hands off on the now completely black hoodie as he continued speaking, “Well, not really gone. Shall we say he’s asleep? That’s what happens when you break the thing that gives someone even the slightest power over you.” Sera stared at Pitch, and realized that this was the first time she’d ever seen him shivering from fear. She shuddered as she heard the bastardization of Jack Frost laugh at the Nightmare King’s state. The laugh was a chilling noise, one that Sera thought might rival Pitch’s evil laughter at times. “Look who’s scared now!” The creature turned toward Sera. “I had no intention of leaving Jack’s body. You know,” he held up a reprimanding finger as he stared at the others, “I’m a bit hurt that he would still consider that after all I’ve done for him. Wait,” he glared up at the sky, thinking. Then his eyes widened, revealing the black scleras a little more as he stared at them again. “No, I’m not hurt at all. I’m mad as hell! I mean, he wouldn’t be alive without me.”
“We were going to give you a new body, moron. He wanted you to live!” Sera snarled. Somehow, the idea that this little snot could make Pitch shake in terror pissed her off. She risked another glance at Pitch, who was holding the pieces of Jack’s crook to his chest and staring dumbly at the ground.
“Yeah, leave his body and risk you lot coming after me? Really! Awesome idea!” He turned his attention on Pitch, opening his arms and flashing a bloody, sharp grin that was the stuff of nightmares. “Does someone need a hug?”
“Let him go,” Pitch croaked out, his voice sounding completely lost. He looked up, his gaze pleading as he said, “Please, Rin. Let him go.”
Rin snorted, then tsked. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Nightmare Man.”
“You little SHIT!” Bunny cried, throwing a boomerang at Rin. A cold, icy shadow rose up at Rin’s command and deflected the weapon. Bunny threw the other, but that was also deflected. Both were lost in the woods, and Bunny was left defenseless.
“You’re annoying,” Rin muttered, his lips barely concealing his fangs. Then they spread into that terrifying grin again. “Let’s play!”
North and Tooth raised their swords defensively as Rin readied a series of dark, frosted arrows and started firing. Sandy sliced through the arrows with his whips seamlessly, but the onslaught was short-lived as Rin suddenly crumpled to the ground. His limbs suddenly weighed more than the rest of his body. The frost dissolved as his arms folded across his chest seemingly against his will and he rested on his knees. He growled as he resisted his own movements. Sera glanced over at Pitch, who looked incredibly focused. It took everyone a moment to realize he was controlling Rin. North advanced, ready to attack, when Sera stepped forward. Pitch was too focused to defend the boy right now. North looked confused by her interference. “Sera—.”
“Realize you’ll hurt Jack as well,” was all she needed to say. He stopped, lowering his swords. The other Guardians followed suit as Sera turned back to watch how Pitch handled Rin.
“Let. Jack. Go,” Pitch growled as he continued holding Rin in position with his influence.
Rin chuckled, still able to speak. “No can do, Nightmare Man.”
“You can, and you will.” Pitch’s voice deepened warningly.
“Even if I did, he wouldn’t be able to fix his little twig. He’ll be too weak!”
“He’ll be strong enough when you’re gone,” Pitch snarled, dropping the pieces and stepping closer to Rin.
Rin only laughed at Pitch. “You gonna exorcise me, Nightmare Man? Now? You couldn’t do it before, when Jack was strong enough to take it. You might kill him, you know!”
“Crawl back to whatever dark recess you’ve taken up residence in and let. Jack. GO!”
“I cheated my way to the forefront, fair and square! I’m not giving up his body!”
“LET HIM GO!”
Rin squinted, flashing his sharp teeth as he whispered, “No.”
In a flurry of movement, Pitch had threaded his fingers through Rin’s hair while his other hand gripped his jaw. The Nightmare King locked eyes with the Fearling. “Then I’ll make you.”
Rin’s eyes widened into perfect circles as Pitch invaded his head, the boy’s body shaking involuntarily as inhuman squeaks escaped Rin’s throat which was now tightly closed off by Pitch’s influence. Sera and the Guardians could see him fighting Pitch, but Pitch didn’t let up. Rin shook violently, but Pitch held his head in place. Tears welled in Rin’s eyes as he continued to struggle. Sera didn’t know how much longer Rin could fight Pitch, and let out a relieved gasp as soon as black hair and scleras started graying to white. The yellow irises faded to blue as his skin started to regain its normal pallor. The last things to return to normal were his teeth, which shortened and dulled as they ceased to be rows of fangs. As soon as the transformation ended, Pitch let go of the boy’s head and Jack went completely limp. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he started falling. Pitch caught his shoulders and laid him gently on the ground, searching frantically for signs of life.
Only then did the others move forward. As she neared, Sera saw that Pitch was shaking again as he checked for a pulse, breathing, anything that indicated Jack was alright. The closer she got, the more audible his quiet pleas became. She had no time to register what he was exactly begging for before she grabbed his hands and forced him to look at her. A single tear rested on his cheek as his panicked expression met her calm one. When she had him as still as he was going to get, she turned her focus to Jack. She placed a hand on his chest and exhaled, feeling for his life force with her powers. It was hard to locate, especially given that Jack Frost was essentially a reanimated corpse. Manny, you really know how to pick them, she thought.
She was both surprised and relieved when she found it, and began coaxing it to strengthen. It struggled, but obeyed her command. Because his life depended completely on his relationship with frozen water, he needed ice. The closest form of ice his body began to absorb was the water in the ground. She watched as her coaxing him to live started drying the ground around them. As soon as his life force was strong enough, she heard Jack gasp awake. He didn’t open his eyes. He just gasped and coughed, as if he’d been revived after drowning.
“Jack?” Pitch asked as the boy’s coughing tapered off and Sera leaned back. Pitch touched the boy’s face while his other hand grasped one of Jack’s.
Jack’s hand tightened around Pitch’s weakly. “I’m sorry,” the boy breathed out softly.
“You’re such a fool,” Pitch uttered, pulling Jack into a firm yet unrestricting embrace.
Sera watched as the others took turns asking if Jack was alright. She felt drained from using her magic, but realized that she didn’t mind even though she really needed all the strength she could get when facing Nidhogg. Though it still baffled her that she couldn’t stand to see Pitch so upset, she didn’t have it in her to steel herself against the feeling. It was still so hard looking at him, and his apologies seemed absolutely unreal. But despite all the grudges, she couldn’t handle seeing him that afraid.
“Jack won’t be able to fight,” Sera told Pitch as the boy rested against him.
Jack stirred. He was able to move, but he lacked the vibrancy he’d had previously. His energy and appearance seemed dulled by the absence of his staff. “I want to fight.”
“You can’t use your ice, and you no longer have Rin as a fallback. Your ice was your best weapon against Nidhogg anyway. He’ll fry you like this,” Sera argued.
“I can still do something,” Jack remarked. “I’m not going to just sit and watch you all get hurt.”
Pitch cut in, “Jack, you’re practically defenseless—.”
“So give me a weapon. Give me a task.” He gestured to both of them. “You both have tasks. The Guardians have tasks. Opening a chasm, keeping the dragon trapped, getting us the hell outta here, give me something. If I can’t keep him distracted like the others—.”
“You could keep him grounded,” Sera stopped him. Jack looked at her gladly, a spark of his energy returning at the idea.
Pitch didn’t share his excitement. “Could you please listen to me and not endanger yourself?” he begged.
Jack stared indignantly at him. “I can do this. I’m not immobile, and I’m still very fast. You’ll be surprised to see me run.” Jack turned to Sera. “How am I going to do this?”
Sera drew her leg up to her chest and removed the black dagger and its sheath from her calf. Handing it to him, she explained, “This is what we used to cut his wings in the first place. It’s the strongest weapon I have, and I’ll find a way to cut you if you lose it.” Jack actually hesitated to take it from her. “He heals about as fast as one of us on our best days, so a broken wing is nothing to him. Cut his wings, and he won’t be able to force himself off the ground. Got it?” Jack nodded, attaching the blade to his upper left arm. “Get creative if you have to. Just make sure he doesn’t escape.”
“Jack, don’t do this,” Pitch asked one last time.
“It’s my job. I have to.” After Sera told him to gather his strength for the battle, she walked away to reinforce in the Guardians what their jobs were. As she did so, he inspected the black blade. It was smooth, almost unearthly. It was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. “What is it?”
“It was a weapon used by my armies, during the Great War. It came from the Earth’s center. It was powerful against the Guardians mainly because it had never seen the sun or moonlight until I wielded it. I gave it to her, in case she ever needed a weapon as strong.” He paused, staring at it almost happily. “I never thought she’d keep it.”
“Well, I’ll be sure not to lose it then.” He holstered the knife, then nestled against Pitch’s side and sighed. “The sooner we deal with Pillan, the sooner we get rid of Rin.”
“That is true.” Something about Pitch’s voice sounded odd, though. He almost seemed distant. Was that fear? Worry?
“Something wrong?” Jack asked. Pitch shook his head. Jack huffed, annoyed at Pitch’s silence.
Pitch responded to the annoyed sound with, “Just be safe.”
“As safe as I can grounding a dragon. I should be more worried about you.”
It was Pitch’s turn to huff. “If I end up having to stay behind with Sera, I want you to still go with the others.”
“You think I’m going to try and stay behind with you?” Pitch’s expression was gimlet. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Probably? Only probably?”
“I’m not gonna tell you you’re all right. You’ll either get mad or it’ll go to your head.” When Jack had successfully gotten Pitch to grin, he considered his job done. Once he saw the smirk crawl across the Boogeyman’s lips, he felt like he could take a few moments to rest.
Bunny really didn’t want to climb all the way up to the branch where his boomerang was dangling. He’d already found the other, but this one was causing him problems. His strong desire not to climb up had left him staring at the thing for nearly five minutes, trying to figure out how best to get it down without jeopardizing himself. He was so focused on what he was doing that he hadn’t noticed the shadows surrounding him darkening.
“Rabbit,” came a familiar, dark voice.
“Crikee,” Bunny grumbled, a chill running up his spine as he turned slowly to face the Nightmare King. And there was no Jack to hit him hard upside the head to save him the pain, either. “Pitch?”
“I’m not going to even broach the issue of the rather inappropriate gift from you that Sera keeps hidden. In fact, I’m quite sure if I enter into that discussion with you I will kill you. Unfortunately, I told Sera I wouldn’t.” The Nightmare King’s voice was flat, which only terrified Bunny more.
“So, what’s this about then?” the rabbit asked after a distinct pause.
“I’m afraid I have to ask you to watch over Jack.”
Bunny’s ears twitched as his shoulders thrust back defensively. “We were planning on doing that anyway.”
“But you are the one transporting us out of danger. I’m getting a feeling that if Sera ends up staying behind, I will have to stay with her.” Pitch’s expression went from blank to displaying a touch of sadness. “I fear Jack’s loyalty to me, and I’ve already proven incapable of protecting him from all dangers.”
Bunny wanted to agree to that, but he couldn’t find the words or the heart to. In fact, he found that he couldn’t even make a clever remark at Pitch, a sarcastic retort seeming a bit too harsh even for his enemy. It didn’t feel right to agree or disagree, despite who he was talking to. “Look,” he started to say without thinking, his ears flattening, “I’ll get him out when things get hairy. He’ll fight, but I can handle him.”
The relief on Pitch’s face struck him harder than he thought it would. “I am in your debt.”
“I’ll remember you said that,” Bunny uttered. Then he pointed to his boomerang. “In the meantime, could you knock that down here? As entertaining as it would be for you to see me fall out of a tree, I don’t think I have the strength.” With the wave of his hand, Pitch used a shadow to dislodge the boomerang. It fell, landing in Bunny’s hands. Pitch almost looked bored at having performed such a menial task. “Appreciate it.”
“Just remember to protect him.”
“Guardian. It’s what I do.” Bunny then thought about something. “You don’t do too bad with him yourself.”
“You’re the last individual I expected to hear that from.”
“What a coincidence. I had the same thought.”
It was twilight when the Guardians, Sera, and Pitch reassembled and resumed their trek towards Pillan. Seeing as he knew they were coming, they didn’t bother moving in a formation geared to surprise. Instead, they entered the clearing where he lay in a line, expecting to meet him head-on.
Part of them expected to be disappointed. In fact, they’d wondered if he would even remained in the spot where he’d crash-landed. He very well may have attempted to hide from them. But he didn’t. He was there with a bent wing, a strip of disrupted earth leading to the spot where he stood with his head bowed low enough to stare at them on their eye level. Members of the group shuddered at the sheer size of him once more, but held their weapons aloft all the same. With Jack’s staff in pieces, North had secured it on his sleigh before sending it back to the North Pole. Jack looked strange bearing a knife as his weapon instead.
Pillan’s peeved expression met Sera’s slightly stoic one. They had a moment where they simply stared at one another without speaking. Pillan’s face softened just a bit before it hardened from anger. “Mother Gaia, you sadden me.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. She almost sounded genuine.
“I didn’t want to have to harm you.”
“You’re threatening my world. Did you think I was going to let you get away with it?”
“I wanted to create a world with you. Why do you choose those who betrayed you over the one you betrayed?”
Sera seemed struck by the words of the one she’d raised as a child. Her lip quivered for a moment, her eyes shining with tears. Her state didn’t seem sensible until she spoke, “Goodbye, Typhon.”
At the mere mention of his preferred name, Pillan snapped. He unleashed a belt of flames from his mouth, forcing them all to dodge fire. He whipped his head around as the stream continued, setting the trees surrounding them ablaze, trapping them in this final circle. The Guardians plus two could see a legion of plague spirits forming behind Pillan as he moved towards them, roaring furiously as he charged. The shreds of pain from Sera’s farewell in his voice died as he advanced.
The group rose to meet the challenge.