Rise Of The Guardians: Bloody Mary

10) Of Shield And Shard

“Pitch Black asked me to help him take over the world.” Mary said knowing what the consequence of these words would be. She didn’t want to keep secrets, even if it meant Jack would hate her. They had stopped walking and stood there in the middle of the snowy street. It was a warm day, especially for winter, and the sun shone down on them making the wet ground reflect light back into their eyes. Mary was grateful for this reason to squint, she felt unable to look Jack in the eyes after having made this confession.

Jack searched for words but found none. His initial reaction was sympathetic. Pitch had asked him the same thing a few years back. But the sympathy didn’t last long. This felt different than that had been. It also meant Mary had been in contact with Pitch, which meant she had been lying to him about everything, and thats what he directed his fury at, “You lied to me.”

“No! No I didn’t, I never lied.” she pleaded with him, seeing the hatred growing in his eyes, “The last time I saw you was in the woods, and at that point I had no idea who Pitch was. I told you, a lot has changed since then. I got my memories, and--”

“You got your memories?” Jack had known this, but there was a piece of the puzzle he had overlooked before, “Pitch told you to get your memories. And you listened to him.”

It was a statement not a question, and Mary realized she was now trapped, “I had to know. I know you know that feeling. I had to know why I’m like this. Please, you know--”

“You lied to Tooth Fairy.”

Now she really was caught. She had given Tooth Fairy a false reason for why she needed her teeth. She specifically avoided telling her that Pitch had sent her for obvious reasons. The rage in his eyes had turned to pain now, and she could see she was at the end of the line with this argument, “Jack, I never meant to--”

“To what?” He glared at her, “I trusted you. I’ve known you for two days and I chose to trust you. At every turn I defended you, and at every turn you’ve given me a reason to change my mind. I listened to you because I wanted to believe you. But now I see I should have listened to Tooth, she was right about you.”

“I said ‘no,’ Jack. I said I wouldn’t help him.”

“But how can I trust you on that?” he grabbed at his staff and started lowering it towards her, “How can I trust anything you say?”

She backed away from the lowering staff, “Because you’ve been through all this Jack! He’s done this exact same thing to you!”

“I can’t take anymore chances on you Mary.” he looked sad and defeated, “I can’t risk losing my real friends for someone who I just met.”

Mary felt like she might cry. She had lost him, but worse than that now he was threatening her, “Please don’t do this.” she pleaded, her eyes never leaving the staff.

“I’m going to take you back to the Guardians to see what we should do with you.” he looked down as if just noticing the weapon he held at the ready, “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you won’t cooperate.”

“I won’t go Jack.” she trembled, but she would defend herself if he needed to, “I won’t be punished for taking something that belonged to me in the first place.”

“That isn’t what this is about, and you know it.” he noticed that she had shards of glass weaving through her fingertips, emerging and disappearing, preparing to be used in defense.

She noticed him looking, “Then what is it about? I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“It’s about picking a side Mary! You have to choose!”