A Trapped Winter Spirit - completed

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ: ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴏɴ...

3rd person POV (for better experience):

Dark Jack howled in anger and lunged. More nightmare horses rose from the dust and charged. Their sandy hooves clipped on the ground as they brayed furiously. Still, Pitch didn't react except for giving a flick of his hand that made Dark Jack's horses crumble back to dust.

He wouldn't fight the boy. No, that wasn't Tooth's plan.

"Fight me, you coward!" screamed Dark Jack. "Face what you've done! FIGHT ME!"

More and more horses rose and fell in a pointless loop, each time Dark Jack getting further frustrated with Pitch. His yells and screams ripped from his throat raw and furious. Hatred burned in his eyes like a fire.

While he was doing that, he didn't notice Tooth's tiny movements as she reached her fellow guardians, who had been abandoned by Dark Jack. His screams drowned out her buzzing wings. She clutched the two halves of Jack's staff in her tiny hands.

She landed softly on the ground, as light as the feathers on her arms, and crept towards Sandy. To be honest, he looked terrible. Almost unconscious, but his eyes widened when she shook him gently.

In a whisper so quiet Sandy had to strain to hear it, she said, "Fix the staff" and pushed the pieces close to him.

Thinking that was the worst idea she could have mustered in this moment, Sandy shook his head with the soft tinkling of bells. If Dark Jack got his staff, he would become unstoppable. With the dark control and the full power of cold, God knows what could stop him. After all, what goes together better then darkness and frost?

"Please?" Tooth pleaded softly, urgency in her tone. "I just think- I know we can save him. We need to save him. Please, just trust me on this."

Slowly, Sandy nodded. He agreed that Jack deserved to be saved, after the hell he was put through to turn into this thing. This person consumed by hatred, darkness and revenge.

With trembling fingers, he closed his eyes and felt his golden sand knit the two wooden pieces back together. It was difficult, but Sandy had been around for centuries and had already mastered his power.

Tooth gave a gasp of both surprise and joy. The staff was back in a single piece. It looked exactly the same as it did when Tooth had first seen it; long shaft with the hooked end. Sandy's powerful sand shrank down the shaft and back towards him. He fixed it and Tooth's plan, to her delight and relief, was working.

Unfortunately, as if he felt it, Dark Jack stopped fighting and whipped around. His scary blue eyes narrowed on Tooth and Sandy, and the same petrifying smile slid onto his face. His beautiful snow-white teeth showed, but Tooth no longer loved them.

"Thank you for fixing my staff," he said, with sick laughter in his eyes. He lifted his hand as if waiting for Tooth to give it to him. "I'll be taking it now."

Tooth's eyes widened as the wooden stick-like staff started tugging against her grip. Its strength grew fast and it was soon almost impossible to keep a hold on it. She gritted her teeth and yanked it back towards her. But she was nowhere near strong enough.

Then, out of nowhere, came a whip of black that wrapped around Dark Jack's waist. His hand dropped in surprise, but it yanked him backwards.

He was thrown against the nearby alleyway wall with a sickening CRACK! He barely had time to yelp before he was knocked unconscious. Dark Jack slid down the wall, in a crumpled heap at the bottom.

Tooth gasped, her free hand slapped to her mouth, and darted over to him. She reached out to touch him when Pitch appeared by her side, his hand pulling her wrist away. "Don't touch him. It might infect you too."

Her eyes met Pitch's, tearing up slightly. Looking at Dark Jack made her feel so guilty as if all of this was her fault. In a way it was, and she would never forget it. Never in a million years.

Still, she knelt down beside his limp body and her wings tucked themselves neatly on her back, watching his chest rise and fall, then carefully wedged Jack's staff in between his hands. And she waited, her breath held.

Time seemed to stop, only the wind rushing softly past as if anxiously watching Dark Jack too. Although that would make sense; Jack had made friends with the wind centuries ago. It was probably worried for the winter spirit.

Tooth feared that her plan wouldn't work. She feared it was too late to save Jack Frost. That they would be stuck with Dark Jack forever.

Minutes ticked past, and the other guardians joined her side. No one bothered to deal with Pitch Black, they just stood there. Close to Dark Jack.

Then the colour drained from his coal-black locks and the paleness returned to his skin. Unconsciously, his hands curled around the shaft of his staff. Slowly but surely, his hair turned back to white, and he looked normal again. His eyes fluttered open, no longer that cold, hatred-filled look.

"Ho ho ho!" laughed North. "He's back!"

Six Months Later...

Jack's POV :

It's been almost six months since I was possessed, as Tooth put it. I woke up in my own body, not in that weird-ass place, but I was very sore. I had a pounding headache.

Anyway, I'm doing great. I've got my staff back and I'm causing as much trouble as usual, with my winter powers. The pain from being thrown around like a ragdoll is dulling by the day. I can barely even remember what it was like being inside my own head. I remember a lot of blue and maybe talking briefly to my dark counterpart. The Guardians told me bits and pieces of what happened. Apparently, I'm scary as a bad guy.

But it doesn't matter. He's gone and he's never coming back. The only thing in my head is myself and the pranks I'm going to pull on Bunny for Easter. Them, and the escape plans I'm clearly going to need.

Oh, and speaking of the Guardians. I am one now. North performed the ceremony and yes, I refused to wear the shoes. Jack Frost does not wear shoes. I accepted the Moon's request of joining them, and now I'm the Guardian of Fun. Suits me, right? Now I can have as many snow days as I want, and no one can stop me because it's fun.

As for Pitch, well he's gone back to the hole he came from. Do I hate him for what he did to me? I don't know. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. All I know is that I'm too happy with how everything's going to care. He can try and fight me, but I'm ready for him. I'm better now, more powerful.

Now I sat in a tree, barefoot and in my blue hoodie, staring at the moon. That big, bright ball in the sky that smiled down on me. A beacon of hope in a sea of darkness. The same one I saw through the ice when I first woke up three hundred years ago. The moon that chased the darkness away, saved me and gave me a new chance.

I am free now. No longer afraid of who I am, or what I'm supposed to be. My powers, my staff, I know it now. I am a Guardian. I have a family, a place to call home. I'll never be alone again.

I will be great. How do I know that? 

Well, the moon told me.