Curiosity and Nightmares 5

Curiosity and Nightmares

Rating: M (T for now)

Pairing: BlackIce

By: Shadako [FF] CuzIzHot [DA]

Fifth Chapter: A common enemy.

This was so not how he had planned his day to go. Sitting lazily in some tree, creating a few nice snowflakes and enjoying the peace and quiet of his lake; that was what he wanted to do. But sadly most of the time things didn’t go as Jack Frost had them planned. So instead of snow and refreshing cool wind brushing against his skin, the only thing touching him right now was some retarded little elf. It took all of Jacks willpower and self-control not to hit the little bugger with his staff. As if it wasn’t hard enough already for him to listen to Tooth’s frantic chattering and Bunny’s grumpy monologue about how he could be kicking some butt right now instead of sitting in North’s workshop. With an annoyed groan the winter spirit shoved the elf off of the fluffy plush couch he was currently laying on, finally getting rid of the creature that had been poking his leg for at least ten minutes now. Seriously, everything seemed to try to grant on his nerves today. No exceptions.
Jack’s mood hadn’t really improved since he was left alone last night after the little chat with Pitch. Well, he knew what kind of devious evil was about to destroy humankind now, but that wasn’t great news, really. And fighting some crazy undead guy and an army of dead people wasn’t that high on the fun guardians list of things he liked to do either. Of course he was still stuck in Santa’s workshop as well, so nothing to take his mind off of the unpleasant revelations of the last night. All in all things looked quite grim for Jack Frost; not to mention that he still had to talk to North about the weird message he received from the man in the moon. Although the boy wasn’t so sure if he really wanted anybody to know about the things MiM had said. Not like anyone would believe him if he told them the moon could actually use words and just decided to be an ass about his messages...

A wet sensation on his bare feet shook Jack out of his daydreams; the spirit now glaring daggers at the elf. The little nuisance had crawled back up on the couch and instead of poking Jack; it was now licking his toes. “Alright, you asked for it.” A quick flick of the wrist and Santa’s helper was frozen solid, clattering to the ground. The sound made Tooth turn and look at Jack, finally acknowledging that he was even there. With buzzing wings and ruffled feathers she zipped towards him.
“Oh, Jack! When did you get here?” A raised eyebrow and a blank look was the only answer he gave her. He’d been lounging around here for at least half an hour and no one had even noticed. Some nice friends he had there. She didn’t seem bothered by his lack of response at all. “What are you doing here anyway? We need to be prepared for any possible attacks, you should practice your skills or organize the defenses of the north pole, or-“
During her little speech her eyes lost focus of Jack, going back to all the tiny faeries fluttering around her. Before she even finished her sentence she was back to giving orders, being even more of her jittery and nervous self than usual. The rise of this Lich guy really did a number on Tooth; she even almost flew into a wall once or twice while Jack had been watching her. If she would have been a mortal she would have died from walking in front of some random car long ago, Jack was sure of it.

With a tired sigh the guardian of fun rose from his comfortable place on the couch, realizing that he wouldn’t get much of a decent conversation here anyway. So might as well leave the queen of the faeries and the angry rabbit to themselves. They sure knew what they were doing and how to deal with this necromancer guy. They had been guardians ages before Jack, after all; so let them do all the planning and organizing. Unfreezing the elf on the ground while he walked out of the room, Jack wondered what else there was to do to entertain himself with. Sure he would like to help creating awesome battle plans or learn some amazing ice spells to fight the undead monster guy with, but then again he had no idea how he should manage that. Since nobody even bothered to give him any useful information about the new villain, or how to fight him, what could he do? Just make things up and hope it works once he finally gets to meet that scary dude in person? Rush in and hope for the best? Yeah, that would sure help a lot.

~.~.~.

Annoyed with the other guardians and their lack of interest in him, Jack just wandered through the halls of the workshop. If they had a task for him or wanted the winter spirit to get involved in any of their plans they would surely tell him. So until that happened he might as well look around for a bit. Unfortunately there wasn’t that much interesting stuff to see; some yetis here and there busy with whatever it was they were doing, some elves being their generally stupid self and a lot of toys scattered in almost every room Jack came across. Why did he want to break into this place so bad again? Sure, it was nice to have a look, but after being stuck here for almost two days it got boring as hell. Especially when there were so much more useful things out there to do. Like tracking down the enemy, or protecting the children. But who was he to argue with North about their strategies? It’s not like Jack had fought against many horrible villains threatening the existence of humankind. In fact, so far he hadn’t encountered a single one. So maybe it was the best choice to just stick around the workshop and stay put. Even if the guardian of fun hated every minute of it. It just wasn't in his nature to be stuck with doing nothing.

Swirling his staff about and freezing this or that, the youngest guardian made his way through another hallway when he suddenly had the weird feeling of being watched. Jack slowed his steps, gripping his staff tighter. Ignoring the feeling wasn’t helping at all and after a few minutes and two hallways later it was still there. Whatever it was that was following him around, it made him uneasy; so it could be nothing good. Taking a deep breath and preparing to strike with an ice bolt, he whirled around.
The end of his staff was almost touching the black muzzle of a nightmare that had materialized out of the shadows behind Jack. With a startled yelp the winter spirit took a few steps back, still pointing his staff at the mare. He hadn’t expected that thing to be this close. The glowing eyes bore into him; one hove stomping down threateningly. He had the distinct feeling that he knew that creature already. “Oh, come on; not you again!”

Jack already had his share of horse attacks for now; he could do just fine without another one, thank you very much. But the black nightmare didn’t attack him; in fact, it didn’t do anything but stare at him. For minutes. Jack slowly lowered his staff a bit, mustering the mare with a cautious gaze. Okay, that was new. Wasn’t this thing going to try and trample him like the last time? Apparently not; but the penetrating gaze of the nightmare still made Jack shiver. Jet he and Pitch hadn't parted on fighting terms, so why was that thing here?

“Alright… can you, like, just go away? I’m not really in the mood for a fight right now.” He didn’t think the horse would listen to him, really. But asking nicely had never hurt anyone before. Of course the shadow mare didn’t move one bit. Groaning in frustration Jack lifted his staff, swinging it at the shadow In hopes of making it vanish. It did; to avoid the blow. Then it was back just as solid. And it was still glaring daggers at the guardian of fun. Okay; not cool.

“What is your problem, huh?” The white haired spirit was slowly losing his patience with the mare. The thing was creeping him out and he wanted it to leave him alone for the sake of it. But apparently luck wasn’t on his side. After a few more blows and a layer of frost coating the floor the nightmare was still there; having successfully avoided every single attack. The spirits expression darkened; clearly not amused. How come his situation seemed to get worse by the minute? With a low whine the shadow being took a another step closer to Jack.

“What the hell? Just leave!” He was now outright shouting at the dark horse; while said horse was totally unimpressed and still very much there.
“Ugh; seriously? What is wrong with you stupid things lately? Don't you have anything better to do?”

He got no answer; the horse standing right in front of him, glaring. Fed up with the retarded creature Jack just turned around. If that stupid beast wouldn’t leave, he would. He was annoyed enough with his current stay in the workshop, the last he needed was this thing staring him down. After a few steps Jack looked over his shoulder, just to see if the nightmare would go away. To his uttermost displeasure it kept following him.
Where. Ever. He. Went.

~.~.~.

A few hours later a brooding spirit sat on the bed in one of North’s guest rooms; not two feet away stood the mare. Glaring. In fact, the thing hadn’t stopped that; at all. Not a single time. And Jack was so close to exploding. He had to avoid the other guardians all day because of the creature; he didn’t want to upset them even more. So he was stuck here and alone with a shadow for hours. How he hated this stupid, retarded horse! Why couldn’t it just crumble like the sand nightmares had? Or find anything else to do?
The boy had tried to hold the nightmares stare; for about half an hour. That thing didn’t even blink; not a single time!
It was granting on Jacks nerves so very, very much. Hell, by now he even considered calling for Pitch, just so he would make this thing go away! But then again, that probably wouldn’t work; even if the curtains were drawn shut and the room had plenty of shadows to teleport through. But maybe… having to deal with the Nightmare King was not even half as annoying as having this horse around all the freaking time! So if he just tried it, it wouldn’t be that bad. Most likely the dark spirit wouldn’t show up at all. Yeah, trying couldn’t hurt. With a last death glare towards the persistent horse; the reason he had to stoop so low as to ask for Pitch’s help in the first place; Jack turned towards the shadows. Unsure about what he should say, he just tried with the first thing that came to mind; the Shadowmancers name.”Pitch. You can hear me, right? We need to talk.”

For a moment nothing happened and Jack felt rather stupid for talking to a dark corner of the room. Yeah, so much for that epic idea. With a groan he turned back towards the bed, letting himself fall onto the soft mattress. Nothing seemed to work out for him today; and he was running out of ideas. Was he stuck forever with this thing following him around now? Turning his gaze towards his unwanted companion he noticed that the mare hadn’t moved a centimeter. “Just great…” Oh how he wished that last two days were nothing but a bad dream...

“Missing me already, Jack?” The silky voice made the white haired boy jump, sitting upright on the bed and looking around the room frantically. Hands quickly grabbed the staff out of reflex, even if he had been the one to call for Pitch in the first place. The dark spirit stepped out of the shadows, his long cloak slithering over the ugly plush carpet. His presence alone made the room seem so much more menacing. Jack rolled his eyes at the smug grin on the other spirits lips. “As if.”
Maybe he had been wrong and the horse wasn’t that bad; at least it didn’t mock him all the time. But it’s staring was unnerving and creepy. Well, if Jack was lucky both would leave him alone soon enough.

“Then why, pray tell, did you call for me?” With his golden eyes locked on Jack; Pitch failed to pay the rest of the room much attention. The mare that had bowed her head gracefully at her master’s arrival wasn’t too happy about that. Her beloved creator didn’t even acknowledge her! And all that just because of this dreaded, inferior little winter sprite. Oh how she despised him. Should the brat just wait; he would get the most horrid nightmares the next time he went to sleep; she would make sure of that! And she had time to wait for him to fall asleep. Lot's of it...

“Don’t act like you don’t know, Pitch. You’re the one who keeps sending these things after me!” Gesturing towards the black horse Jack glared daggers at the Shadowmancer. With a raised brow Pitch mustered the fuming mare that stood near the window. Had she been there the whole time? Oh well, maybe he should pay more attention to his surroundings and less to the Frost boy. Not that he paid him that much attention at all; he was just very… distracting.

“Now, would you be so kind as to remove that from my room? As much as its fun to have around.” Jack’s words dripped with sarcasm as he gestured towards the shadow beast again. Pitch turned back towards the frost spirit, ignoring the horse once more. “Don’t give yourself too much credit, Frost.”
Pitch shrugged, paying more attention to his nails than to Jack while speaking. “I wouldn’t order my servants to keep constant watch on you. You are not that important or interesting.” Jack rolled his eyes again at the aloof tone the other was using; like he couldn’t care less about the things Jack said. Which was probably true. The guardian of fun couldn’t keep the annoyed tone out of his voice. “If you didn’t send it, then why is it here?”

“I wouldn’t know. Maybe she likes you.” Flashing Jack a sharp toothed grin Pitch leaned against the wooden table on the other side of the room, enjoying the completely pissed off look on the teens face. The guardian gripped his staff tighter, clearly not sharing Pitch’s idea of a joke.

“Very funny. So I’m assuming you don’t have anything to do with that thing trying to trample me in my sleep last night either?” The look Jack gave the other made it obvious that he didn’t believe that; at all. But to be honest, the Shadow King had no idea what the Frost boy was talking about. The angry snorting of his nightmare proved his words to be true, though. So she had attacked him and was now lurking around his room? That was odd; none of his mares had done anything like that before. Not without his command. This one seemed to dislike the boy quite a lot, although Pitch had no idea why. With a flick of his wrist he made the furious horse vanish back into the shadows. Sending her to the lair was probably the best choice. He would have a serious word with her later. “Of course I didn’t. Why, Jack, you know I would never harm you.”

With those words and a wicked smile the Nightmare King took a seat on the table he had been leaning against; crossing his legs. The looming presence of the older spirit making Jack's body tense up. The death grip on his staff turned his knuckles even whiter than usual. How Pitch managed to push his buttons so much was beyond him; but it was so damn annoying.

“Now that this little distraction is out of the way, why don’t we talk about business, hm?”
Knowing it would be futile to try and argue with the evil spirit that it had indeed been his fault he got attacked, Jack let it slide. What good would an argument with the infuriating Shadow King do his already strained nerves? Right; none. And besides, nobody else seemed willing to share some information about the Lich guy with him. Sad, that he had to turn to an enemy for details, but what other choice did he have.

“Whatever. So, any useful advice on how to beat Mr. Big Bad and Evil?” Jack leaned back against the headboard of the bed; not needing to keep his guard up right now. Apparently the Shadowmancer was more into getting him riled up than fighting him lately. The frost spirit wasn't sure which one he should prefer.

Pitch shook his head disapprovingly; explaining to the teen like some would to a five year old. “Why, if I knew how to beat him, what would I need the guardians for?”
The white haired spirit gave the Boogeyman a look; letting him know that he wasn’t in the mood for his games right now. Not that it would stop Pitch from playing.
“Having you around has to be good for something; so there’s anything else you’d like us to know about that Lich King?”
Pitch ignored Jacks biting tone once again and just shrugged. The long shadows of his cloak trailing over every surface they could reach; painting the room with black. It looked almost like ink spilling over the awful Christmas themed furniture. It tainted the little reindeer ornaments and swallowed the colorful lights adorning the walls.
“If you insist on hearing old tales...” Blue eyes curiously followed the threads of darkness, watching them snake their way closer to the bed Jack was sitting on.

“It’s a rather long and boring story, so let me try to cut it short so even you will be able to follow.” Another glare was directed Pitch’s way; the dark spirit brushing it off with a grin.
“He used to be a King of the nether world, ruling the realm of the dead. But he got a bit carried away by his tasks; instead of bringing death to those whose life was about to end, he wanted to bring it to everybody.” Slender fingers trailed over the wooden desk in North’s room; drawing the outline of a tall figure. Blackness rose from the lines Pitch had drawn and formed a shadow of what Jack recognized as the Lich King by now.

“So instead of watching over the realm of the dead like he should, he made it his goal to turn all living beings in every world he could find to minions of his.” The floating shadow stretched spindly arms wide, raising a mass of dark shapeless creatures before it. The winter spirit watched Pitch’s moving shadows with interest while listening. It reminded Jack a lot of the things Sandy formed with his dream sand; only much more sinister.

“Instead of putting the dead to rest he consumed their souls and took command over their bodies.” The shadow version of the Necromancer opened its mouth and swallowed the little things floating around it like a black hole. By now the youngest guardian recognized those to be souls. If that wasn’t creepy as hell Jack didn’t know what. The shadowy minions spread out like a endless ocean in front of the Lich Kings figure. The more souls he absorbed the more undead would rise under his command.

“With his new army he wanted to bring down the other realms of the netherworld and take them over. He went the bad kind of insane back then; and so the court of the netherworld ripped his powers from him, banishing him into oblivion.”
Wailing and thrashing around the shadow-version of Lich King had all the souls sucked back out of him; crumbling to a pathetic mass of fabric and metal on the ground. After that the remains were thrown into what seemed to be an endless dark abyss. Pitch whirled his pale hand through the images he had created for Jack, making them vanish.

“He was left to rot in a rather unpleasant part of the world below, his powers sealed away for eternity.” The guardian of fun rolled his eyes at that. Yeah, nice eternity that was. It lasted till a week ago and now that mad guy was here in the mortal world wrecking havoc. Just great.

“But apparently something went wrong. He escaped; somehow. So now you and that bunch of so called guardians have to prevent him from taking over the mortal world or all of you, along with the humankind, will cease to exist.” Pitch explained all this like he would tell a fairy tale to children; voice calm and smooth. One would never guess the dark spirits own existence was at stake as well after hearing his story. How he managed to keep so calm all the damn time was beyond the winter spirit. Jack took a deep breath; shaking his head weakly.

“So we have to fight a crazy guy who almost took over the whole netherworld and his army of undead. Alone?” Pitch cringed a little at those words. Yeah, that was the part he was hoping to avoid. As much as he hated to admit it, but it looked like he would have to help. It’s not like he could trust those idiotic happy go lucky guardians to protect his most important source of power. If humanity vanished he would have to search for a new source all together, and that could cost him decades for all he knew. So in order to avoid a rather unpleasant period of time without any significant powers, he had to… team up. With the guardians. The very beings he despised most in this whole mortal world. Now if that wasn’t going to be just amazing…

“That would indeed be a problem; since I don’t believe you’d survive a five minute fight with him. Not even speaking about the zombie army here.”
Jack shot the Boogeyman a dirty look; how incapable did Pitch think they were? They did defeat him after all, even if that was sheer luck or just the fact that the Nightmare King didn’t put much effort into winning in the first place. Still, it’s not like Jack hadn’t proven that he could fight. So how much worse than an army of nightmares could an army of undead be, really? Aside from the unbearable smell. And the fact that the sight alone made him nauseous. They would sure find a way to win. Somehow. Hopefully... Or maybe they did need some help.

“If you’re so sure that we will lose, then why aren’t you doing something useful for once and help us?” Well, at least now Pitch didn’t need to suggest it anymore. That made it a little bit less awful to agree to a temporary truce. And besides, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have a legit reason to spend more time around the Frost boy. His reactions to Pitch’s actions were always so precious; and he managed to evoke a delicious kind of fear in the boy as well.

So with a wicked grin and a snap of his fingers the Shadowmancer had vanished. Jack sat up on the bed instantly, looking around the room. That wasn’t the answer he had expected when telling Pitch to do something useful. The winter spirit stood, eyes searching the shadows. Just in that moment the dark spirit appeared right in front of Jack, startling the young guardian and almost giving him a heart attack.

“So you suggest we fight a common enemy together?” Pitch leaned in closer, not giving Jack the time to back up. The winter spirit wasn’t able to move anyway, too transfixed by the dark beings sudden close proximity. Why did his skin feel like it was heating up? He should move, or open his mouth for a witty remark, but nothing seemed to work. All he managed was a short nod, blue eyes captivated by glowing golden ones. He felt like a deer caught in the headlights. With a chuckle the Nightmare King leaned down further, fingers tracing the line of the spirit boys jaw, barely touching skin at all.

“Very well, Jack Frost. Let’s call this a truce. For now.” With those last words whispered in a silky deep voice close to the boy’s ear, Pitch vanished completely. Leaving Jack alone in North’s guest room. Alone, and with a light shade of blue coloring his cheeks.

~~~tbc.

Yay, right in time for Christmas! 
I got a very nice message from someone asking me if this story here was abandoned and that they would like to read more. That brought my attention back to C&N. I said I would write the next chapter and try to post it in time for Christmas, annnd. I managed! :3

So merry Christmas to all of you out there! And thank you for sticking with this story! <3