Believe in Me

Breathless

The blast had surprised him, but Grey spent no time before rushing back up to his feet. His head didn’t like it, sending a dizzying feeling through his body, but with his scythe in possession, he didn’t feel the soreness he was sure the others must’ve once they were thrown forcefully from the sleigh and slammed against the ground. He looked around to his surroundings. The trees here were tall, looming over to cast out the light of the afternoon sun, though the sunset was coming and soon the brightness would peek more through the gaps between the leaves. A few angered birds were chirping conversationally to each other, probably disturbed by the sudden crash of spirits through their homes. He figured with slight amusement that Ilia probably would’ve been having a fit too if she knew that they had upset the animals, but she didn’t appear to be at his side anymore.
So Death started walking, looking for a sign that the others were fine. They hadn’t died, thankfully, though spirits were somewhat stronger than humans and, although a fall from that height probably would’ve seriously wounded or killed most average humans, it was very unlikely that anyone that had been in that sleigh when it exploded was too badly injured. As his motions made quiet rustles in the forested area, a crunch of dried, crusted leaves shattering under him, the shuffling of small branches that attempted to block his path, Grey listened in for any sign that there was anyone around. The explosion had been large, the recoil from the blast probably sent them all flying far from each other, which wasn’t good. The guardian’s strength was strongest when together, when separated, though they could still keep themselves together, they were much less of a threat. Ilia could take care of herself, but knowing Chaos, who was probably responsible for this, he’d be going straight to get his payback for the damage she did to his hand… and that man angry wasn’t something worth ignoring. He needed to get to her first, but he had no clue where she’d be, who’d she be with if she was with anyone. It was possible even that she was alone, like he was currently, which would be even worse for how the situation appeared to be playing out. Jack had been injured, if Pitch was going to get him back now would be the perfect time to do it, so he’d need to get to the winter spirit as well… Then a voice entered his mind, it’s words so surprising that he felt himself involuntarily slow to a stop. ‘When did you start caring? Why does it matter what happens to them, they’re not yours to protect. You’re turning weak again.’ “Shut up,” he muttered in return, his gruff growl of a voice holding a tone of frustration that reminded himself of a stubborn child… he didn’t like it. What he also didn’t like was the fact that he was actually considering what that voice was saying… but wasn’t it right? He was being ignorant if he knew that caring would only hurt him later and doing it anyways, he wasn’t being realistic… Once again he wondered why being the spirit of reality was thrown onto him of all people. He was the least realistic of all. He locked his head in a trance so that he wouldn’t be affected by the crying and screaming and most of all dying that followed him and never would stop following him. His entire life was a daydream. Death wasn’t reality, accepting someone dying over just trying to keep the reality in your subconscious was hard.. It was so much easier for humans to forget that it had happened, it was the same for him. The caped man sighed, shaking his head and continuing forward, shoving the mental conversation from his mind. It really didn’t matter thinking it over if he was just going to go to help them once more. The last time he tried to follow his own advice and just do things the way his job insisted he found himself locked in a box and turned into a play toy. His job was the world, to take them to their afterlives and that was it… but right now, his job was also to help those who helped him. Death trudged quietly through an unseen path, focusing on the task at hand once again.

Jack groaned as he felt the full impact of coming back to consciousness slam into him not too much unlike how he had slammed into the ground just seconds before. Either way, it hurt like crazy. He felt an uncomfortable tightness over his skin in some places, and on further inspection he saw that he was throughoutly bandaged, the tail of the whitish wraps peeking out from each sleeve of his dirty blue hoodie and past the frayed legs of his pants. His eyes were blurry, which was beginning to be too familiar for his liking, but once their sleepy daze was broken and they faded back into focus the winter spirit  couldn’t help but feel relief spike up through him. Sandy was leaning over him, golden eyes held in determination as the small spirit pulled his hands back. It seemed like the sandman had been trying to shake him awake. Jack even felt small grains of sand slide out from under his jacket as he attempted to sit up; seemed like Sandy was trying everything to get him to wake up. “What happened..?” Jack muttered out, allowing himself to be pushed back to laying down and raising his pale hand to rub his especially sore cheek. A tiny golden sleigh appeared over Sandy’s head, flying in circles with some form of magic before suddenly shattering, the dream sand making it puffing out in a huge cloud before raining down to powder the grass. “The sleigh… exploded?” Jack felt his eyebrows raise in surprise and slight disbelief. Sure it was possible, but he hadn’t considered it. Wasn’t it run on the reindeer and North’s strength and believers? Maybe he was wrong, but he had figured that only electrical things could actually blow up. He looked around as best as he could, most of the somewhat tall grass blocking his vision, but he couldn’t see any motion besides the swaying nature in the unusually strong wind. “Where is everyone?” He asked, glad to hear that the strength was returning to his voice. The sandman shrugged, frowning in a saddened look as he himself glanced around the area. That wasn’t good.. Jack hoped they were all alright. If an explosion happened like Sandy said, and Sandy rarely lied, then there was a possibility that someone was hurt in the fall. Considering this, the teen mentally pep-talked with his muscles and with a deep breath, pulled himself up to sitting once more. The dream spirit saw this, quickly shaking his head and running forward to push Jack back down again, but the snow-haired boy shook his head. “I’m fine, Sandy, but we have to make sure the others are,too.” He gave a smile in attempted to calm the restless golden form, which registered somewhat. Despite the obvious disagreement traced upon the sandman’s features, he gave a weak sigh and a thumbs up appeared above his head. It was true, Sandy did want to find the others, but Jack was injured. But either way, once that boy’s mind was set, there was no reversing it. “Great!” the winter spirit’s smile grew wider, and the dream spirit smiled back, silently glad to see that playful, devious but truly happy look that only Jack could pull off once again. He then got an idea. As Jack used a tree to help himself gain enough stability to stand, Sandy got to working, his trademark golden sands beginning to swirl around in front of him like a dust cloud, forming something. The winter spirit seemed to notice only once he was up, his head tilting slightly in interested confusion at what his friend was up to… then his turquoise eyes lit up once the whirlwind of sand settled down… In front of him was a pure golden horse. What was even more surprising was that it was alive, moving, shaking its beautiful shimmering mane and snorting, pawing at the ground restlessly but standing calm and proud. The sandman admired his work, figuring that it would work well enough. If it took a minute for Jack to bring himself to standing, there was no short number of how long it would take and how painful it would be for him to have to walk or run if the situation came to it. A golden saddle formed right from the horse’s back, not seeming to disturb the creature at all as it kneeled it’s head down and began to shuffle it’s snout through the grasses, looking for a strand suitable enough to eat. “Wow, Sandy, that’s amazing!” Jack exclaimed, mouth slightly gaped in awe and surprise. He didn’t like to admit that he needed help to move, but he wasn’t going to turn down a helping hand, especially one this beautiful. The dream spirit beamed before raising his fingers to his mouth to whistle. Despite absolutely no sound coming out, the horse quickly raised it’s head and trotted gracefully to stand at Jack’s side, turning to look down at the boy who was much shorter than it. Despite the difficulty and the throbbing of his legs as he climbed up, the winter spirit was glad to be doing it. Once he was on, he nodded to Sandy, who floated up beside them… then they were off.