Secret of Frost and Moon

Knowing a Burden, Letting It Go

Alaia Skyhawk: In answer to the guest, who wondered what Pitch was before if he wasn't a Legend. He was sort-of an Unnatural Fear-based self-sustained immortal, whose personality was created by the Fearlings to be their leader and weapon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

~(-)~

Chapter 90: Knowing a Burden, Letting It Go

"...Twenty-three... Twenty-four... Twenty-fi-"

Bunny's voice cut off as he, North, Tooth, and Sandy all twitched. Every one of them, in their mind's eye, seemingly plunged back into memories of the events of the Battle of the Moon and the two weeks before it. Everything at first appearing to be just as they'd always remembered it, until like missing pieces from a jigsaw puzzle, fragments of what had truly happened clicked into place one-by-one.

Jack plummeting into the snow outside the Workshop.

Jack rescuing them when they were attacked while retrieving the fourth Relic.

Jack helping them retrieve the fifth Relic.

Jack isolating himself, intermittently appearing only to give them news of his search.

Jack announcing that the winds had seen Pitch launch the stolen ship.

Jack creating ice mirrors to get everyone to the Moon Clipper.

And the last time they'd see him, stood beside Tsar Lunar after he'd put his power into the Mirror of Wishing Stars... Except that for one of them, that wasn't the last time they saw him.

While North and Tooth began to chatter excitedly about the things they could now remember, Sandy glanced around looking for their absent member, and Bunny had gone eerily silent.

It was the Sandman who nudged North and Tooth to get their attention, before he drew and image of Jack along with a question-mark. That caused Tooth to gasp.

"That's right, where is he? If we remember, then that means he's back here in the future. Right?"

Father Time appeared near the controls for the Globe, startling them before he nodded.

"He is on the Moon Clipper, with Tsar Lunar. I sensed that given the situation when he was pulled from the past, he would need the chance to talk to the one who has always remembered exactly what happened that day."

Sandy blinked, glancing at North who looked surprised.

"Ah yes, Jack would have been in room with Tsar Lunar! He would have been there when Bunny tricked Pitch into becoming a Legend Immortal."

"It wasn't me or the Man in the Moon that tricked him..." Bunny's quiet words made them turn, and when he lifted his head to look at them his expression was torn with guilt. "Tsar Lunar told me I'd taken a hit during the scuffle, convinced me I'd been locked in a nightmare that confused my memories. As revenge by the Fearlings after he and I had tricked Pitch into letting him use his power to make him 'able to walk in sunlight'."

Bunny put his head in his paws, and curled in on himself. "I believed him, that I'd been victim to a nightmare, because the crushed feeling in my heart made no sense otherwise."

At the confused frowns of the other three Guardians, Father Time explained.

"The one who really tricked Pitch, was Jack. He realised that you all were locked into a battle of arms, not of wits, and knew that it couldn't have been any of you that deceived the Nightmare King. Tsar Lunar agreed to the plan. But for good or ill it transpired that Aster, who had chased after Pitch when he got inside the Moon Clipper, burst into the room while the plan was in progress. Jack had no choice but to restrain him, and even go so far as to use him as part of the act to convince Pitch to allow Tsar Lunar to use his power. However, as soon as the act of turning Pitch into a Legend Immortal was done, that was the moment I had to bring Jack back to the future."