Rise Of The Guardians: Bloody Mary

9) Dealing in the Manner of Diplomacy

Tooth Fairy buzzed through the air frantically wringing out her hands. The other guardians watched her zipping around the dusty air of the tooth palace, her energy causing them all to feel uneasy. The thousands of little fairies humming around palace like worker bees in the hive watched her warily. Tooth's nerves had set everyone on edge, but to save her any further anxiety the fairies dutifully continued in their work. Tooth practically hummed the same things to herself, just to fill the lapse in conversation, “Where is he? He should have been back by now? I should have never sent Jack after her, I should never have trusted her in the first place. What was I thinking? If anything happens to him it will be all my fault.” The spoken stream of consciousness had continued in such a way for longer than any of the guardians would have liked.

Finally North stopped her “Tooth, you do not need to be worried for Jack. He is tough. He will handle himself if bad things happen. You do not worry.”

“North’s right.” Bunny chimed in, “And besides, you said it yourself, she seemed to be telling the truth about all of it.”

Tooth grumbled exasperatedly, “You don’t understand. She’s bad. I know it.”

“How do you know?” North asked gruffly, “You don’t like her. Why is this?”

“Her teeth. They were rotten. I didn’t see it at the time, but my fairies did. She had rotten teeth.” Tooth Fairy seemed very worked up by this fact. Sandy flew up next to Fairy who was still rubbing her hands to the point that they were becoming red and raw. He placed his hand on top of her’s trying to calm her nerves, and looked at her with pleading eyes.

“So what if they were rotten?” Bunny shrugged, “Lot’s of people have rotten teeth.”

“No, the enamel wasn’t deteriorating, it was the type of rotten that means her memories are rotten.” Tooth tried to explain, “So I’m worried about what she might have seen.”

A question mark and a rotten tooth appeared in golden dust above Sandy’s head, and hung suspended in the air for a moment before dissipating.

“Well rotten teeth can mean a lot of things Sandy.” Tooth interpreted his question, “It could mean that her memories were tampered with, or maybe she had purposely suppressed or altered them. Or it could simply mean the memories themselves are bad, but for that to happen they’d have to be really bad. Any of those things might be bad for her psychology, it says something about her mind. Rotten memories mean rotten thoughts. It’s just a warning, it doesn’t really warn of anything specific.”

As if on cue a darkness fell upon the palace, and a shadow glided across the wall. The Guardians knew what it meant instantly. The busy little fairies darted out of sight, their emerald feathers ruffling in fear. The Guardians eyes darted as if trying to catch it before it actually happened, but Pitch Black did not waste much time on this particular dramatic entrance. He chose to step from the shadows in plain sight of them, but kept his distance. They had their weapons raised before he could even get a word out.

“Really? I haven't seen you in years, and here you greet me with weapons drawn?” Pitch laughed pleasantly, smiling, and holding up his hands to show that he was unarmed, “There’s really no need for formalities. I come in peace, without any ill will or mal intentions.”

“Why are you here?” North glared at him with narrowed eyes.

“I’m here to deal in matters of diplomacy.” Pitch said casually letting his arms drop to his sides. He wore a relaxed demeanor yet held himself superior and mocked them with it.

“Yeah, thanks for the vocab lesson Dr. Thesaurus,” Bunny retorted, “But here’s the thing mate, we don’t want to talk to you. And there’s not one thing stopping me from coming over there and kicking your pasty grey--”

“Do what you must,rabbit.” Pitch spat, “But I was under the impression that you cared about Jack Frost.”

Tooth Fairy visibly flinched, and her a look of horror spread across her face. “You have Jack?” she whimpered.

“No.” Pitch offered casually, “He’s with Mary. But I can assure you, if something happens to me, something happens to him.”

“Ok Pitch.” North lowered his weapons and looked to the others to do the same, “We are listening. What is it you want?”

“I’ve come to warn you.” his expression changed to one that reflected the gravity of the situation, “About Mary. She is dangerous.”

“Right, warn us about Mary.” Bunny mimicked, “‘She’s dangerous,’ he says. You think we don’t know that already? We picked that up a while ago mate.”

“No you don’t understand.” Pitch chose to ignore Bunny’s rudeness for the moment, “She hurts everyone she get’s close to. She will hurt you, and she will hurt Jack if he doesn’t keep his distance. That’s why she stays hidden most of the time. She can’t help it.”

“Why are you telling us this Pitch?” Tooth Fairy questioned, “Why are you helping us?”

Pitch sneered at her with disgust, “I’m not doing this for you. Do not make that mistake. I’m doing this for her. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone, she’d be devastated if something happened to Jack, but as I said, she can’t help it. You are quite literally playing with broken glass. It is only a matter of time until someone gets cut.”

Bunny’s nose twitched with irritation, “I’m not buying it. Who have you seen her hurt? How do we know you’re not just making it up? And how exactly do you escape her wrath if you're so buddy buddy with her?”

“I don’t.” Pitch raised his chin at them, and held out his arm. It was riddled with holes from where Mary had driven shard of glass through it the night before. The holes were smaller than when he had gotten them, his inhumanness giving him a form of enhanced healing. He looked at the wounds through his hand and had to fight back a smile. The fact that he had evidence of Mary’s instability was completely circumstantial, the fact that it aided in the fabrication of his story was simply a stroke of good luck. But if there was one thing Pitch was good at it was manipulation and deceit, and he knew how to use everything to his disposal, lucky or not.

The Guardians looked at Pitch’s arm with horror. They had simply assumed Mary was working with Pitch, and even if they had asked, Pitch would have lied and told them that she was. But the fact that Mary had done something like that to Pitch, someone who she clearly had some sort of positive relationship with, made them even more fearful of Jacks current situation. Tooth felt that if he didn’t appear soon she might go out looking for him herself. Just as this thought crossed her mind, however, an icy wind ripped through the palace sending shimmering dust and emerald fairies swirling through the air. Pitch used this distraction to slip away into the dark.