Everything. . . was not going well.
The waiting started out boring, not much to expect while you sat lazily on one of the stone egg-shaped statues. They made for a surprisingly good seat, letting it do whatever as it waddled around aimlessly. Everyone was in the same state of boredom, but you didn't doubt the worry that was on everybody's minds.
And almost as easy as turning on a switch everything went to shit.
North had spotted the first nightmare, loudly announcing its presence before going to dispose of it. Everyone was on their toes, they just needed a reason to act up on it and this was the catalyst for that.
The panic settled in while you rushed to one of the entrances, looking in horror when almost an entire stampede was waiting there. They saw you, and needless to say it was a tiring fight.
The problem was that you weren't even their target, much more interested in stomping out the eggs as with each one you lost you saw hope drain from Bunny's face little by little. It pained you to see your friend in such a state, the memories of Sandy and the way hope drained from his face as well making you gulp down a nervous lump.
"Tooth!" She caught your sickle in time while you held onto the vines, watching as she circled and rounded a group of the annoying fuckers. Doing enough rounds you yanked on the vine, tightening the bounds as they all exploded in one large dust cloud of black.
You were far from over though, simultaneously trying to quickly herd the eggs into the tunnels while fighting off almost millions of the nightmares. Where one died another showed up in its place, just as angry and ferocious as the last one.
Your back stood against the dark tunnels where the eggs scrambled underneath you, standing your ground as to not accidentally step on any while you used your sickle and vine to act as a whip once again. Each time you heard a crack you wanted tears to slip, the anger that culminated in you somehow showing itself in growing sadness. But you shook your head, finding an open clearing in the paths and letting a large flower burst through the dirt. It exploded three of the horses, and those who managed to dodge it neighed and backed off.
Their golden eyes glared at you, before stomping out the other small flowers that started to grow alongside the first one and rushed towards you.
You held up your hands in full anticipation of the attack, but what hit you out from behind practically knocked out both your balance and air.
You still held your weapon up though, managing explode the others before whipping around in horror to see the horse that just emerged from the tunnel. The very same tunnel you were herding all the eggs in.
Immediate regret kicked in and you released a shaky breath, starting to spin the vine like a lasso but stopping when the nightmare from the tunnel stops right in front of you, huffing as you inhaled the black smoke. You coughed, hand reaching out to strike it but when you touched it you froze.
You didn't see anything yet saw everything at the same time, everything that has ever haunted you and this entire planet running through your head at the speed of light and disappearing just as quickly when you stepped back. You glared at it, yet the terror and fear stuck, running through your veins like second nature and you wailed.
You didn't know why, it just happened.
You sat there, crumbling, crying your heart out as every little regret and pain rushed over you like a building falling on your head. Much like the landslide and all the pain you felt then.
It wasn't until North got rid of the horse that you stopped screaming, but the sadness lingered and your throat was sore. Tears were still streaming, and everything hurt. Everything hurt again. It honestly felt like you couldn't go a day without having that feeling stab you in the back, and this wasn't one exception.
"Where the bloody hell is Jack?!" Bunny cries out as he strikes another one, drawing his fist back to punch about two before throwing out his boomerang. Goddammit! Just as he was starting to fucking trust him he's a no-show, being left to deal with hoards of the fuckers that seemed endless. Yeah you were all holding up okay, but the fact of the matter was that somebody needed to do crowd control on these fucks.
Plus, that show yesterday no doubt made them wary of Jack, so his presence might've been able to help give them an advantage.
But no, of course not! He was out and about doing who-knows what in God-knows where and they were left to deal with the nightmares alone.
He scoops as many of the eggs as he could before jumping, landing on another horse and watching with raging triumph as it exploded. He kicks again, what little of the eggs cradled in his arms and running off to where you all gathered.
The sheer amount of the pieces of shits were enough to have you all huddled in the middle of the large, open area, various plants he couldn't even begin to name sprouting and striking every so often. North was hacking away with his double swords at the ready and Yetis covering his blindsides, Tooth borrowing your sickle so that she at least had a weapon of her own. From where Bunny stood he could see that you've been crying, eyes puffy and dried streaks down your cheeks even as you whipped around a separate vine that you had a deathly grip on.
He jumps when said vine wraps around the horse's neck that had started charging towards him from the left, shielding himselfβor, more-so the eggsβwhen it exploded. "Oi, focus, dumbass!" Your insult was what resulted of your current stress and anger, glad that he didn't seem to think too much of it as he grabs his boomerang and chucks it.
"Bunny, here!" North announces, unceremoniously passing a basket he had apparently found. He accepts it gratefully, placing the eggs in there delicately and guarding it with his life.
The fight went on for a few more annoying minutes, each wave getting more and more tiring than the last as you felt energy slipping more and more. You weren't sure if it was the overexertion of your powers or the fact that Pitch was doing who-knows what with all the intentions of getting rid of the little lights in the globe, not doubting the possibility that a shit ton of plants were currently dying right now because you were too focused on fighting.
God, when you stepped on a flower you saw it already starting to wilt.
You panted as you pulled your hand back again, ready to strike with all the intentions of making it as painful as possible when the horses stopped, some sort of signal that made them halt in their steps before they backed off.
You still hit of course, but instead of fighting back they started to leave, huffing and neighing in a language only they could understand before quite literally disappearing into the shadows where none of you could follow.
The formless black slithered across the floor and towards one of the tunnels, one last cry from Bunny as he throws his boomerang.
It misses, hitting only the floor before it loses momentum and doesn't return.
And almost as quickly as it had started the fight was over, the noises of strikes and war cries nothing but a passing memory. Silence overtook the entire labyrinth and you fell to the floor, the exhaustion finally catching up and the horror of all the crushed eggs making you shake your head.
You lost.
Again.
Bunny took the worst of it, his steps heavy and practically dragging as he goes to retrieve his boomerang. He dared not touch any of the crushed ones, with such carefulness that you could only really see in Bunny. His form was stiff as he bent down to pick up his weapon, one look up into the tunnels and seeing even more of the damage that he couldn't handle believing.
"I'm a goner."
His voice was soft as he mumbled to no one in particular, no signs of the usual cockiness that he usually had. He just sounded done, defeated and broken as he mourned the lost of his work. The colored elf from earlier jingled as you turn to look at him. He shakes his head, pushing the basket with what remained of the few safe eggs. You tried your best to smile, picking it up with a quiet thanks and heading towards your longest friend.
"Hey. . ." You whisper, ignoring the exhaustion that settled in your legs as you gestured it to him.
He doesn't respond for a few passing moments, sighing until he finally took it. He doesn't say thanks, or anything of note, but you were just glad that he was sort of responsive nonetheless.
"We did the best we could." North talks in a surprisingly soft tone, taking his spot to stand beside Bunny, a solemn look as he places two eggs into the basket. You honestly half expected him to retort, even if it was something negative like 'it wasn't good enough!' or something similar.
Yet. . .nothing.
He just stared. Broken, and hurt.
β’ β’ β’
When Easter finally came tomorrow morning things weren't better, the disappointed look of kids striking a cord as you sat in a tree overlooking the venue. There was a sense of dΓ©jΓ vu, but the way Bunny ran out to them with masked desperation was the last string to finally get you to cry again.
Something about him desperately trying to show the kids the few eggs that he managed to scrape broke your soul, fingers digging holes into the tree that you sat on. You'd fix that later, but right now you needed something to show that angerβimagining that you were sinking your nails into Pitch's throat and finally finishing the damn job.
"I'm right in front of you, mate!"
The kid simply passed through him. And Bunny finally broke the façade as he stares on in realization.
He really was a goner.
"They don't see me," He whispers weakly, eggs hugged against his chest as he lowers to the floor, "They don't see me. . ." He bent over to cry in what felt like years of holding it together, and you jumped off that tree and scrambled to go hold him.
Bunny was an asshole. That wasn't much of a surprise, but he was the type of asshole who cared and showed it in the weirdest ways. He was closed-off and never relied on anyone unless he desperately needed to, and barely showed emotions without masking it with his sarcasm and witty-ass remarks. So seeing him so openly cry in front of the rest of you really let you realize that he finally broke from the loss, and it hurt just as much as the last one.
You bent down as you tried your best to drape an arm around him, his face buried in his hands and eggs tightly pressed against him.
You wouldn't say that you were closer to him than anyone else, but you would say that you were the closest he's ever gotten past a surface-level friend. He rarely opened up, and only entertained the idea of you being a Guardian because he's already spent a few years with you back when you were still fucking around without a purpose. He was the first Guardian you ever met, the first friend you ever made after your death, and the first face you ever saw when you emerged from your rocky grave.
"They don't see me. . ." He was still mumbling under his breath as he rocked back and forth, shaking as he sobbed, "They can't see me. . !"
"You were with Pitch?!" You turned your head when North raised his voice, betrayal written all over his face as your eyes locked onto Jack's back, trying to explain his ass on this one. "No, listen, listen!" He sighed, "I'm sorry. . .I didn't mean for this to happen!"
"Oh yeah, like how you didn't mean for that snowstorm to happen?" You let go of Bunny and started towards him, seeing nothing but red as it took everything in you not to stab him with your sickle, "Like how you didn't mean for me to get forgottenβ like how you didn't mean for Bunny to get forgotten?! You ruined Easter! You ruined all our fucking lives, and for what?!" There was something familiar clutched in his hand, and your eyes darkened.
"Oh." It was the harshest tone he's ever heard you have for a word, flinching when you scoffed it out again. "Oh, of course, how stupid of me, why would this possibly be about anything else?"
He turned towards you, slowly, in worry, an apology no doubt ready but you weren't hearing it, "And to think there was a time just yesterday that I thought you weren't selfish." He opens his mouth but you shut him up with the hardest slap you've ever landed on someone's face, a quiet gasp even from Tooth as North observes in worry. You shake your head, hand stinging and leaving an awful red mark on his pale cheek, "Our expectations for you had already been low." Your breath steadied as you click your tongue. "Yet congratulationsβ you still managed to disappoint us."
You probably only calmed down when Bunny rested a hand on your shoulder, a shake of his own head as he sends a sad glare to that disgrace of a Guardian.
It took him a while to speak again, but when he did, he sounded like he could barely find the words. "Easter is. . .new beginnings, new life. Easter is about hope. . !" His voice broke, taking a few steps back as you saw his hands tighten to a fist, before he stops himself, "And now it's gone." With a final sigh he walks off, his form slumped over with dragging steps.
. . .
You sent one last glare at Jack, shaking your head and going off in a pile. You only hated the guy up to that point for petty reasons, and you've probably already forgave him and that whole snowstorm situation back at Bunny's warren. But now, seeing how he wasted time and left all your asses to rot just because he couldn't wait until after you solved everything to go grab his memories. . .you doubted that that hate you were feeling was still just of pettiness.
β’ β’ β’
Jack felt nothing but stupid as he stood on that snowy cliff, hand clutching the little golden container that solved one problem but grew another one. Your slap had been a wake-up call, stinging quietly as he groans when he just can't seem to just throw it. It wasn't worth it anymore! He lost what little bonds he made all because he got ahead of himself! So why. . . oh why can't he just get rid of it?!
"I thought this might happen. . ." He perks up, that familiar voice sending anger running down his spine as he snaps his head towards the source, "They never really believed in you. I was just trying to show you that." There was a pause, and Pitch looks up, "But I, understand."
Jack grunts as he send a shot of ice, barely managing to block it with a cape-like structure of his black sand. "You don't understand anything!" He jumps behind him, growling when he managed to dodge another hit. "Oh I know what it's like to be cast out!" He sends many hits, but Jack manages to evade all of them before jumping and sending his largest beam of ice so far.
Pitch counters it with more of his sandβhis stolen, sandβand the explosion covers the already snowy area in a light mist that strained both of their visions. Jack holds his staff out, squinting and trying to see past the white. "To not be believed in?!" He whips around and glares at Pitch, holding his weapon out if he dared step any closer, "To long. . .for a family. . !"
He lowers his weapon, a new look on his face but skepticism still high, "All those years in the shadows I thought that no one else knows what this feels like." He gestures to himself before he looks up, some ironic look of hope as he turns to Jack, "But now I see that I was wrong. We don't have to be alone, Jack!" He gestures to himself, "I, believe in you. And I know children will too!"
. . .
"Me?" He sputters out, a laugh as Pitch nods enthusiastically, "Yes! Look," He pauses to gesture to the shared culmination of their power, black dust and ice forming a spiked shape, a motion forever stuck in time as he laughs, "At what we can do!
"I mean what goes together better than cold, and dark?! We can make them believe!" He emerges from behind the structure a moment later, a sad look on Jack's face as he stared at his reflection in the ice, "We can give them a world where everything! Everything, isβ"
"Pitch black?" He cuts him off, and he pauses, before nodding to gesture at him, "And Jack Frost, too. They'll believe in the both of us."
"No they'll fear, both of us," Jack quickly cuts him off, a quiet scoff as he shakes his head to walk away, "And that's not what I want. Now for the last time, leave me alone."
. . .
"Very well," There was a growing hint of anger in Pitch's voice from behind him, a scowl on his features as he slowly nods, "You want to be left alone, done!" He then smiles, razor sharp teeth in full display like a hungry shark, "But first. . ."
The chirping was what made the Guardian look back in a panicked hurry, the tiny fairy held tightly in his clenched fist. "Baby tooth!β" He stops when Pitch tightens his grip, faΓ§ade broken and angry, and Jack raises his weapon. "The staff, Jack!" His voice suddenly raises, head tilted to the side, "You have a bad habit of interfering."
His voice goes back down to a more normal tone, but he can't deny the underlying anger, "Now hand it over. . ." He pauses, turning to the baby tooth with a cocked brow, "And I'll let her go." The fairy shakes her head repeatedly, and his grip tightens on the wood that he's spent so many years of his life with.
. . .maybe. . .this'll be his redemption. Maybe saving baby tooth would prove that he wasn't a bad person. He wasn't a bad person, and he shouldn't have to prove that! But with the amount of shit he's done and pulled he was running out of options.
. . .
With a heavy sigh he turns the staff and hands the holding end to Pitch, trying to ignore the growing triumphant smile on his face. He takes it, cockily taking a step back and scoffing at Jack in amusement. "Now let her go."
. . .
He seems to be thinking about it, before he shakes his head with a subtle eyeroll, "No," Jack's eyes widen, very much lacking everything that could protect him and baby tooth so at-risk at getting hurt, "You said you wanted to be alone. . .so be alone!"
With an angry chirp she stabs his thumb with her pointy nose, yelping in pain before chucking her halfway across the icy terrain with little to no hesitation. Jack yells in protest, following her form with his eyes before turning back to Pitch, who, as cheerful as ever, lifts his leg up and snaps his staff in half. "No!"
. . .
. . .
. . .
Your ears perk up, looking up from your book and trying to focus on that.
The sounds of nature pretty much drowned out everything, somewhere halfway across the world in a random park you decided
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