Chapter Text
The little fairies fluttered helplessly in the ribcages of the demented horse things, unnerving Jack greatly. He had no idea what they really were, but they had a weird... graininess to them, and yellow eyes that glowed on the edge of orange. North handed him the reins and leaned forward, slashing at the horses with his twin sabers.
He had a feeling that the Guardians had an idea of where those strange horse things had come from, and that it made them wary. But, unsurprisingly, they didn’t seem inclined to share the reason with him. For a group of people that seemed weirdly determined for him to join their group, to agree to “Guardianship” or whatever, they weren’t very inclusive.
With a sharp jerk North, Bunny, Sandy, and Jack made their not quite graceful landing on top of the ornate tooth storage building, the sled skidding to a halt as Jack let go of the reins. He heard Tooth making noises of distress, quickly glancing up to find the source.
“Tooth! You alright?” North called out in concern.
She continued to move rapidly between the buildings, her wings buzzing with the speed of it. “They-- They took my fairies!” she cried out, face creased with concern. “And the teeth--all of them,” she continued, her voice going quieter and wavering. Jack’s heart couldn’t help but twist at how broken she sounded.
“Everything is gone... Everything,” she muttered as she slowly sank to her knees, the rest of the Guardians leaping up to comfort her. Jack briefly considered joining them, but... He barely knew her, right? He stood awkwardly for a moment, until he felt a rustling in the fabric of his hoodie. The little fairy he rescued, Baby Tooth, fluttered out. She had a large smile on her face, eager to see Tooth again. He couldn’t help but offer a tiny one in return, one corner of his mouth lifting. Baby Tooth chittered excitedly as she flew up to meet Tooth.
Tooth’s face lit up as she saw her fairy come towards her. “Oh!” she exclaimed as she extended her arms, tenderly cupping the fairy in her hands. “Thank goodness, one of you is alright.”
“I have to say-- this is very very exciting.”
Jack’s eyes widened, startled by the voice. He whipped his head around, trying to find the source. It didn’t sound familiar to him, but... There was something about it. It was deep and accented, and it had a sort of sultry breathiness to it.
“The big four, all in one place,” the voice continued. “I’m a little starstruck.”
An actual person followed the voice this time, and they seemed to be perched on top of one of the buildings above them. They leaned over, smirking.
“Did you like my show on the Globe, North?” they continued, arms crossed behind their back. They-- or, he, Jack decided-- were completely ignoring him. He looked down at the Guardians, not even noticing Jack, who stood a couple of feet behind them. Jack barely acknowledged the little sting of hurt following the action, used to the sensation.
“Got you all together, didn’t I?” the man continued.
He had no idea who this person was, but Jack was surprised at how charming he found him. The man was dressed entirely in black, with a robe that formed a V at the front of his chest, showing off some lovely collar bones. His hair was dark and slicked back, spiked around the edges. He also flaunted some great cheekbones, with an odd pointed nose that Jack found surprisingly endearing. He was-- wow, he was hot.
“Hey!” he called out. The man looked up in surprise, glancing towards Jack with a look that that he took as “who are you and where the hell did you come from”.
“Yeah you, tall dark and handsome. What’s your name?” Jack continued, walking forward to get a closer look.
“Is that Jack Frost?” the man questioned, amused.
The fact that he knew his name was doing strange things to the rhythm of his heart. “Yeah. And, again, you are...?”
He grinned, and flicked out of sight. “The name is Pitch Black,” he said, appearing behind him. Jack jumped, quickly turning around to face him.
“Well Pitch, it’s very nice to meet you,” he said cheerily, tacking on his best charming grin.
“Jack,” North whispered urgently behind him, “What do you think you are doing?”
He waved his hand in a shooing motion in response, attention focused on Pitch, who continued to pace in front of him.
“Seriously mate, have you gone bonkers?” Bunny whispered harshly, tugging Jack’s hoodie until he stumbled backwards. Jack whipped his head to face him, glaring.
“Excuse you, I’m on mission here!” Jack hissed back, yanking the blue fabric out of his paws.
Sandy made a series of pictures that begged the question: what mission?
Jack grinned, eyes sliding toward the direction of where Pitch was standing. “Tonight, that man will be mine.”
Bunny visibly flinched, a look of disgust settling on his face. “First off: I didn’t need ta’ know that. Not now, not ever. Second: What is wrong with you?”
Jack shrugged. “Hey, just answering the curiosities of the little man.”
Toothiana fluttered toward him in concern, trapping one of his hands between her own. “Jack, this is a really bad idea! You don’t even know who he is, what he’s done--!”
“Tell me Jack, when did you get so chummy with the Guardians?”
Jack turned back to face him, yanking away his hand from Tooth’s as delicately as he could manage. “We’re not friends, I’m just tagging along, and-- Okay. This is sort of sudden, but did you know you're incredibly gorgeous? Like, wow.”
Pitch looked taken aback, eyes widening in surprise. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
Jack walked towards Pitch, ignoring the collective protests of everyone behind him. “I said that you are really damn gorgeous, and if I cared about poetry I’d probably write a sonnet about it or something.” He gave him his best sultry smile, looking at him underneath his lashes. “Do you want to go somewhere where we can get more... acquainted?”
“I don’t think you know what you’re doing,” he sputtered in response. He took a moment to compose himself, closing his eyes. When he opened them again he was glaring, his lip curled into a snarl. “And I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with.”
“Oh believe me, I know what I’m doing,” Jack said with a predatory grin. “And if you think I don’t know who I’m dealing with, why don’t you take me somewhere and show me? Just drop whatever you’re doing and let’s go.”
Pitch frowned, his eyes flicking between Jack and the Guardians. “Are you trying to distract me?” He motioned his head towards the Guardians. “Is this some ploy on their part?”
Jack look surprised by the question. “Why would I be doing this for them? I barely know them, we met like an hour ago.” Then he paused, turning his to head to face them. “No offense.”
“Yeah, none taken,” Bunny huffed out in annoyance, crossing his arms. The rest of the Guardians seemed to be too stunned to respond, watching the events play out with a mixture of curiosity and horror. Except for Sandy, who watched on with a look of appraisal. He seemed to be the only one who was considering that there could be a positive outcome to these events.
“No, I-- I have plans,” Pitch growled, clenching his fists. “I didn’t do all this just so I could be distracted by some pretty little--” he stopped, seeing Jack raise his eyebrows at his choice of words. “By some meaningless winter sprite.” He sighed, stepping into the shadows. “I need to go.”
Jack leaned on his staff, gazing at Pitch fondly. “See you later, yeah?”
“Yes. I mean, no! I mean-- bye.” The shadows swallowed him up, leaving Jack and the Guardians by themselves.
“Well, that just happened,” Tooth offered. Baby Tooth chirped in agreement, perched on her shoulder.
Bunny swarmed towards Jack, face furious. “Just what the hell do you think you’re doing? You were flirting with the Boogeyman, The King Of Nightmares, the bastard who stole Tooth’s reason to exist!”
“Woah there,” Jack said while raising his hands in a stopping motion. “I’m a neutral party, remember? I don’t really care who he is. I mean, I agree that stealing the fairies and teeth was an awful thing to do, but maybe we can just talk to him?”
North sighed, moving forward to push Bunny off of him and clap a hand on his shoulder. “Jack, we wish it were that easy. Pitch is not, eh... Easy man to reason with. Believe me, we’ve tried in past.”
Jack shrugged. “Well, I haven’t tried, have I? Maybe I can get him to give everything back.”
North shook his head. “It is noble endeavor, but I fear that it will not be successful. This conflict will most likely end in violence.”
“Well, I’ll try anyway.” He stepped away from North’s hand, jumping up to hover in the air. “Also, can I tell you guys something?”
“Please don’t,” Bunny pleaded.
“I never considered myself a leg man, but I’d be lying if I said Pitch’s weren’t damn fine. Damn fine,” he said with an edge of wistfulness.
“Yes, thanks, exactly what we wanted to hear,” Bunny grumbled.
Ignoring Bunny’s comment, he turned around to face the Guardians with a grin. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have a Nightmare King to court.”
Tooth gave him a disapproving look.
“Uh, and fairies and teeth to rescue, of course.”