Rise of the Guardians 2: Return of the Nightmare King

Sudden Death

     Jack's P.O.V.

Horror pumped throughout my body, leaving me frozen. The blood from my cut on my arm seeped through my hoodie and dripped down my arm. I barely noticed the pain, though. All I worried about was Angela. The battle completely stopped as Pitch held a knife to her throat and glanced at each of us with a crazed grin on his face. Even his minions stopped attacking, as if their master told them to cease the fighting. All of us were frozen, afraid that if we made the slightest movement, Pitch would kill Angela. This guy was sick in the head, consumed with anger and revenge. He would kill his own granddaughter for revenge. Angela locked eyes with me, pleading for help. Her fear was rolling off of her in waves, I just knew Pitch was eating her fear like a drug. It made my stomach curl in on itself. I wanted to help her, I really did. But I was afraid that Pitch would kill her on the spot. "Pitch, please let her go," Bunny all but growled at him. Pitch pressed the knife harder against Angela's throat, making her squeak in slight pain. I saw a drop of blood roll off the knife. Fear spiked through me at the sight of that.

"No, I won't let her go!" Pitch chuckled dryly, "I have been in power for so long, gaining believers and making myself stronger. Everyone believes in me now, I am not willing to let that go! Whatever it takes, I will stay in power." I think I was imagining it, but I swear I saw tears swimming in Pitch's eyes. I shook my head, almost laughing out loud. Pitch doesn't cry or feel love. He's evil.

"Maybe we can work something out," I heard myself say, "what if we make a deal where Angela doesn't get hurt?" Everyone turned to me with mixed expressions. Tooth seemed to agree with me, as well as Sandy, but North and Bunny doubted my idea.

"Jack, we can't trust this bugger," Bunny gestured to Pitch with his boomerang, "he'll just make a deal that we'll refuse!" North nodded his head, furrowing his bushy eyebrows.

"But we can't afford to lose Angela!" I shouted frantically, "she's too important!" I smiled at her, reassuring her that everything was going to be alright. We would figure things out, like we always do.

"I agree with Jack," Tooth said quietly, "we can't afford to lose anymore children. We're Guardians, we protect children, not put them in danger."

"You're just saying that because you two are a couple," Bunny accused, "you'll agree with everything he says!"

"Now listen here, kangaroo!" I pointed my staff at him, "you don't talk to Tooth that way! She can have opinions too!"

"Jack, it's fine," Tooth said calmly, "Bunny, you may think that, but I can think whatever I want. I'm not just saying this because Jack is my boyfriend. I have an honest opinion." She frowned, staring the giant bunny down. He almost shrank under her sharp gaze. Tooth knew when to talk back to someone and how to do it right.

"Well look at this," Pitch chuckled, "the big five, fighting over a stupid girl. It's tearing you apart!" I just about charged at the guy on the spot, but I knew I had to hold myself back for Angela's sake. Pitch seemed to notice my struggle, because he sneered at me. "And you," he gestured to me, "I know you were quite attached to that Jaime boy. So in order to fill that hole, you decided to cling to Angela," he laughed, "how pathetic of you. She's just a child, how could she possibly give you any comfort?"

"You don't know what it's like!" I yelled angrily at him, "she's not some pathetic child, she's our friend, our family! I've also learned that kids will grow up. They'll forget about us Guardians, but you know what? That's okay, because I would sleep better at night knowing that we protected them. That's why I became a Guardian. I want to protect kids from threats like you!" Anger coursed through my veins, making my powers go a bit out of control. The wind had picked up and some snow started falling around us. I couldn't feel the cold, but I knew the others could feel it. It wasn't a full blown snowstorm, but it was still snowing. Tooth entwined her fingers with mine, trying to calm me down. That's when I noticed a few tears running down my cheeks. The tears were of anger and fear.