❄ ICE COLD ❄ -- JACK FROST X OC

❄ Chapter 16 ❄

A tear slipped down Nixie her cheek, reliving her sister's, her parents and her people's death again.

"You son of a..." Nixie gulped down the last word, holding her good reputation.

"Come out! Come out if you dare! COWARD!" More tears started to form in her eyes, but she had to stay strong.

Her grip on her bow increased as she looked around, trying to find Pitch but without success.

"Hang on. Is that... Jack Frost? Heh, hehehe. Since when are you so chummy?" His raspy voice could be heard again. "I understand that you and Nixie are close again after all those years spending without each other but, the other four?" The last part of the sentence he spoke with his nose scrunched as if he smelled something rotten.

This caused to both Jack and Nixie to frown their eyebrows in confusion. They locked eyes as they both shrugged. Jack could see the tears on Nixie her face as he was starting to feel pity for her. He would have to pretend that he was on his own, which he basically still was.

"We're not." Jack replied calmly while holding his stick in both of his hands, waiting for something to happen. They would have to talk about that later, without Pitch. Nixie was still deep in thought about what Pitch said, 'What did he mean with that?'

"Oh good, a neutral party." Suddenly Pitch appeared behind Jack, leaning on one of the golden decorations before him. "Then I'm going to ignore you, but you must be used to that by now." He floated calmly away. A pained expression could be seen on Jack's face.

Nixie's anger couldn't be more at this moment as she shot another arrow at the Boogey Man, unfortunately Pitch disappeared right before the arrow could hit him. Simultaneously Bunny's anger overflood as he started to attack Pitch as well.

"Pitch! Shut up you shadow-sneaking ratbag! Come 'ere!" Before Bunny could grab him, Pitch disappeared to only reappear on a higher spire level.

Tooth took her chance as she took one of Bunny's boomerangs and started to attack Pitch. A warrior's cry could be heard out of her mouth. Before she could enter his personal space, a nightmare blocked her way. It screeches at her before Tooth started to back off.

The Baby Tooth fairy flew behind Jack in fear.

In the meantime, Jack walked towards Nixie as he laid a hand on her back. "Are you okay?" He whispered to her while holding his serious expression on his face. Nixie nodded while murmuring, "Yes. Thank you." She really wasn't okay, but it wasn't an option to show it.

The nightmare that was located by Pitch didn't stopped whinnying.

"Whoa ho ho ho, hey! Easy girl, easy. Hehe.'' Pitch took a little dust on his hand while turning towards the guardians.

"Looks familiar, Sandman? Took me awhile to perfect this little trick: turning dreams into nightmares."

Pitch stroke the side of the nightmare's head.

Sandy looked offended as the realization hit him, Pitch used his power for the bad.

"Don't be nervous; it only riles them up more. They smell fear, you know."

Nixie frowned her eyebrows. 'What kind of creatures did he used on the town then?' Questions started to appear in her head as she was still holding her bow in case Pitch wanted to do something dumb.

"What fear? Of you? No one's been afraid of you since the Dark ages!" Bunny yelled as he got his boomerang returned by Tooth who was standing on his left side.

"Oh, the Dark Ages!" It looked like he was reliving the Dark Ages before his own eyes as he spoke with passion.

"Everyone frightened, miserable, such happy times for me - oh the power I wielded! But then the Man in the Moon chose you to replace my fear with your wonder and light. Lifting their hearts and giving them hope. Meanwhile everyone wrote me off as j-just a bad dream. Oh there's nothing to be afraid of! There's no such thing as The Boogeyman! Well that's all about to change." The spire levels where shaking as everything as well around them.

"Hehe. Oh look, it's happening already." Jack looked confused around him, wondering what the cause of this could be. "What is?" Nixie turned towards him with a guilty expression, he clearly didn't know.

"Children are waking up and realizing the Tooth Fairy never came. It's such a little thing, but to a child- "Tooth's nightmare came true as fear was evident in her purple eyes. The realization hit her.

"What's going on?" Jack was still confused as he looked into the direction of Tooth.

"They... They don't believe in me anymore." It came out of her mouth as a statement. The motivation was far to find as every spark of hope left Tooth at that very second. Pitch took his chance to mock Jack with his new addition to be a guardian.

"Didn't they tell you, Jack?" Pitch made some hand gestures.

"It's great being a Guardian! But there's a catch. If enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect - wonder, hopes, and dreams - it all goes away. And little by little, so do they. You know everything about it, don't ya Mother Nature? Hehehehe." Nixie never felt more embarrassed in her whole life. The other guardians looked at her in disbelieve as they realized the dark secret their friend was keeping.

Jack looked in shock to Nixie who was closing her eyes, another couple of tears streamed down her cheek. He couldn't even imagine how hard Nixie was trying to keep that secret away from everyone. The platinum haired teenager felt as if her whole world was crashing at that moment.

Pitch of course was in his element while adding some words to his lecture. "No Christmas, or Easter, or little fairies that come in the night. There will be nothing but fear, and darkness... and me. It's your turn not to be believed in!"

Bunny threw his boomerang at Pitch who dodged it at the right moment. Bunny's boomerang flew another couple of circles in the air before it returned to the owner. The whinnying of the nightmare could be heard as Pitch started to ride off. The guardians chased him in a freefall.

Nixie created vines to swing her forward and to prevent her from falling. Bunny who flew behind her in the air yelled, "What out N! I'm gonna throw some eggs!"

Nixie dodged the egg bombs, unfortunately Pitch was too fast as they exploded into the air behind him. Pitch disappeared into thin air as the guardians landed on the ground.