Banished

Chapter 5: Jack, No

A/N: This chapter has a few curse words in it. Reasonable because Jack's angry. :P

"WHY DIDN'T YOU INTERVENE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST PITCH?!" Jack screamed at me. A menacing layer of ice was beginning to spread across the floor.

I knew this would happen, but not this soon.

I stumbled back and crashed into the wall. Jack was angry. I was powerless. "J-Jack," I stammered. "No one could see me. No one can see me." I looked around the walls of the grey house and realized I was backed into a corner. Jack was bearing down on me, his eyes a blue that seemed like it would pierce my soul.

"You still could have done something!" He was yelling now and I had no idea what to do. How could I calm down someone who is almost a veritable demon when angry?

"No, I couldn't," I said, my voice raising and stammering.

"You're the MOTHER FUCKING GUARDIAN OF THE GUARDIANS. YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING. But what did you do instead? You sat on your throne in the Moon and did nothing but eat truffles and drink chocolate!"

"No-"

"While we were on the ground being saved by the children, you were doing nothing." Jack's staff was jabbed at me.

"Please, listen-"

"And since you're the Mother of the Guardians, you can do stuff like that. You can be a ruler and sit on thrones all day and eat candy."

"You're not-"

"And another thing, Iridescent," Jack said, scowling at me. He started twirling his crook around. "When you saved me, you never asked permission. I didn't want that. You did stuff without asking. You always do that."

"I do no-"

"The other Guardians don't know about you ... yet. There's this one, Cupid, she says that she's your favorite ... or something like that. That's not true is it? Because you can't have favorite Guardians."

"Now see-"

"She always believed in you. I understand why you'd save her. She was your favorite. You didn't really have a choice in saving her."

"Until I could see her memories, I didn't know-" I was once again cut off by Jack.

"And you gave her a little invisible friend too, Ben, was it? Yes, I think it was something like that. Why could you give me a friend?"

"Well-"

"It's because you never liked me. You never cared. You never thought me important." Jack's bitterness cut through his words and tore into my heart. None of what he was saying was true.

"You never really protected us, the Guardians, did you." Jack's question was phrased like a statement.

I was beginning to get angry. How could this fool even think that I would sit and eat truffles and chocolate while my family, albeit the ones that couldn't see me, all sat in agony. I clenched my fists. "That's not true, Jack!" I screamed. "That's not true! I was right there in the Moon, that's right, but what was I doing? I WAS TRYING TO PROTECT YOU. EVERYTHING I DO IS FOR YOUR GUYS. I HAVE NEVER TAKEN ANY TIME AWAY FROM LEARNING HOW TO PROTECT YOU AND SAVE YOU." I broke down. The tears started flowing freely from my eyes. My breaths came in ragged gasps as I tried to sort through what I was saying as a fog came over my conscious - the kind that makes you forget some of the things you do when you're angry.

Jack floated down to the ground and held his staff at the ready. He was going to try and fight me, it appeared.

"And about you being anointed a Guardian? You were chosen for a reason, you all were! And I didn't even know that Cupid was Angel until I saw her memories." The tears started streaming down my face.

I could feel power seep out of the walls.

"Ben was the first one I ever 'created'. He was the first Guardian besides myself. He isn't one of Angel's many apparitions! He's not one of most seen Guardians, but he sure is one of the most powerful Guardians and you'd do well to remember, Jack Overland Frost." My breaths were coming in gasps.

"I love all of my children - all of the Guardians! They're all special to me. Each and every one of them. If you can't understand that then ..." My vision turned blurry and I screamed. A bright white aura enveloped me and shot across the room. The light started to blind me, even though my vision was blurry and I was the one doing the blinding, although I don't know how.

"Iridescent! Stop! Please" Jack's pleas struck my ears.

What was I doing? I couldn't stop this.

More importantly, HOW was I doing this? It didn't make sense. I wasn't powerful here. In this dimension I didn't have powers. So why did I?

My breathing was becoming ragged. I was scared. Jack was scared. I was scared.  "I-I'm sorry, Jack. I don't know what's happening."

"Like hell you don't." Jack, for all of his terror, was still very pissed.

"Jack, don't...don't come any closer." I held out my hand warningly. I didn't know what I could do. I didn't know what I was capable of right now.

"You never liked us, face it. You only took pity on us because we committed suicide."

"You didn't commit suicide, Jack!"

"Are you sure about that?"

I didn't like his tone. It was cold and frosty - much like his name. "Jack, you died saving your sister. It wasn't suicide. It was an act of selfless love - Storge."

"No one cares about love anymore," Jack spat. "I assume that's why you created Cupid."

"Jack, stop." My voice was low, but yet it carried power.

Jack stopped and looked at me, hurt in his eyes. He wanted to go home.

I pointed my hand at him, in the pleading way people do. "Jack, go home." A brilliant purple light exploded from my hand and it enveloped Jack. His face was confused, but peaceful. Pretty soon he disappeared.

I whirled around to come face-to-face with Nebulae. "What, in the hell, was THAT?!"