Rise of the Guardians: Fall of the Guardians

Chapter 7 - A Memory Best Forgotten

"W-Where am I?" Jack moaned as he got up from where he lay in a thin snow bank. He rubbed his aching head as he took in his surroundings. He seemed to be in some sort of forest it looked familiar, but he couldn't place where it was exactly.

"How cruel," a voice cut through the trees. Jack instantly recognized it as Pitch and his muscles tensed. "You are just going to sit there and let the boy drown like that? And here I thought that you guys were protectors."

 "Pitch!" This new voice was definitely Bunny's. "You won't get Jack. We will stop you before you can even think of hurting him."

"Hurting him?" Pitch repeated with a laugh "You might want to get those big ears of yours checked, Bunnymund. I have told you over and over again that I wish no harm upon Jack."

"Like we would ever believe you," Tooth's voice hissed.  "Stay back or I'll knock out a few more of your teeth."

"I cannot stay back." Pitch stated calmly as Jack crept closer to the sound of their voices. "I am here not to harm Jack, but to save him."

"Save him/" Bunny responded. "I'm sure that you came back in time just to save Jack. Sure."

Jack bit his lip as everything went quiet. No one spoke a word, causing him to freeze in his spot, seeing as he was following their voices.

 "That's it," North's voice muttered. "You do want to save Jack."

"Don't tell me that you are falling for this, North. There is no way that he means it."

"Oh but I do, rabbit," Pitch said smoothly/ "It seems that at least one of you understands what is going on."

"Then explain it to the rest of us!" Tooth shouted. "Let us hear your great plan!"

"You know nothing about Jack," Pitch retorted. "Do you know why he was chosen? Because he sacrificed his life for the life of a child; for the life of his dear little sister." Jack could tell that he was close now. Just a few feet and he would be able to see them all. "If dying caused Jack Frost to be chosen..."

"Then saving him with make Jack Frost disappear," Tooth muttered in shock. Jack froze mid-step at this. "But that means-"

"That means that the only way for you to save dear Jackie-boy," Pitch interrupted, "would be to make sure that he dies."

 "No way." Bunny shouted. "You are lying! Tai wouldn't have sent us back to kill Jack! We would never hurt him!"

"If you are so sure about that, then take the chance," Pitch said. Jack started to move again, shaking off the shock of what Pitch had just said. "Go ahead and save him."

"Oh man-in-moon," Tooth groaned. "We have to... oh I think I am going to be sick." By now, Jack had made it to the edge of the trees surrounding a lake. He peered out from behind one of them, choosing to watch the situation before jumping in, for once.

"Go ahead and save him. Drag Jack out of the cold hands of death. Save him and let that Jack die before he ever has a chance to live." Pitch crept closer to the guardians. "Do you really want to have his blood on your hands? How will you ever be able to look at him again, knowing that you could have saved him? That you could have allowed him to keep his memories, stay with his family, grow old, find love, and have a place to belong? Can you really take that from him, guardians? Can you?"

"We can't kill Jack," Tooth moaned. "We can't do it. We can't."

"Then don't." Pitch suddenly slammed his scythe down into the earth, using it to pole-vault over the guardians. Once he was over them, he let his scythe dissolve into a mass of black sand, which soared back in front of him. "Here I come to save the day!"