Special Little Snowflake Chapter 13

The two of you arrived at North’s palace. Jack glanced at you and his eyes widened. He saw your wounded cheek. The scratch had stopped bleeding, and the blood was now drying up. The scratch was starting to scab over by now. Your cheek was a bit red and swollen. It looked as if it were starting to bruise.

“How did you get that scratch on your cheek?”

You opened your mouth to respond but you were cut off by Jack.

“Oh, no.” Jack ran a hand through his hair with a pained expression plastered on his face. “I’m… I’m really sorry.”

“Jack, its fine.”

“No, it’s not. I should’ve-“ Jack started before you hushed him by putting a finger to his lips and shushing him.

“You couldn’t have done anything. Therefore, it is fine. Pitch is the one to blame.”

Jack still looked unsure, but he nodded anyway. You smiled at him and learned that it was rather painful to do so with your sore cheek. You didn’t want to make Jack feel guiltier, so you acted as if you were fine. On the inside, however, you were complaining about the pain. You could be a crybaby and whiny at times, but other times you were pretty tough. Not very tough, but tough enough to get things done despite the pain you felt. Afterwards, you would complain about the pain and whine all you wanted. It helped you cope with the pain.

You both entered the palace and went to the Globe room to meet up with the other Guardians. You were greeted by a huge hug and spun around by the hugger. You were caught off guard by this sudden act of affection.

“Thank goodness you’re all right! Where did you go? We were worried sick for you!” cried the hugger, who happened to be Tooth. You had no idea she cared this much for you after knowing you for only a short period of time. She set you down before releasing you and gasping when she saw your cheek. “What happened to your face?! Oh, you poor thing! Did someone hurt you?”

Jack looked to the ground and stiffened up a bit. Your eyes darted in many directions and you pondered over what to say to cover up for Jack. “Uh… I… fell.”

“Fell? These look like someone hit you…”

“The stairs hit me.”

Tooth looked unconvinced. You were a horrible liar. North spoke up and asked, “Where did you go?”

“I was with Jack at Pitch’s lair.”

“What?” questioned Tooth.

“Before you accuse us of anything, let us explain to you a thing,” you said. “When I was sleeping, this little bird thing came to me and…” Your eyes widened and you realized something. Baby Tooth was gone. “Oh my God, I’m a horrible mother!”

“What bird thing?” asked Tooth. She looked very curious and somewhat worried.

“This thing! It looked like you and took me to Pitch’s lair to find Jack!”

“Is it still there?!” Now Tooth was panicking. This wasn’t good.

“I don’t know, maybe! It was with me before Pitch and Jack came and…” You were panicking now and pacing the room. You were also making many hand gestures while you spoke. This was something you did when you were nervous or panicking, seeing as it got rid of some of the anxiousness you felt.

As you started to mess with a strand of your hair out of nervous habit, Bunnymund asked, “Pitch and Jack?”

“Pitch was controlling Jack or something, I dunno.” You were getting very worked up now. You hated being asked so many questions, for you felt as if you were in trouble or did something wrong. If they were innocent questions such as your favorite color or whether you preferred puppies or kittens, you had no problem with that. What bothered you was when people shot questions related to your screw-ups. Everyone looked to Jack.

“How was Pitch controlling you, Jack?” asked North.

Jack scratched his neck and leaned against his staff. “When I went to him, he attacked me. He’s gotten a lot stronger than the last time we fought him. He took me down and when I was about to pass out, I saw a bunch of this black sand consume me.”

“Are you okay now?” asked Tooth. Jack nodded.

“I think so,” he responded.

“What caused you to snap out of his control?” inquired Bunnymund. Jack glanced at you quickly but immediately looked back to him and shrugged. Bunnymund caught the quick look and snickered. “Ah, I see.”

“See what?” Jack glared at him. You were too busy apologizing to Tooth about losing Baby Tooth to listen to their conversation. Bunnymund gestured over to you and smirked. North chuckled as Jack rolled his eyes. “It’s not like that.”

“Uh huh, sure.”

You finished apologizing after Tooth reassured that they would get her back. You shook your head. “No, I screwed this up, I’ll get her back.”

“You can’t go by yourself. It’s too dangerous, and you have no powers yet,” argued Tooth.

“I can fly! That’s a power!”

“You can fly?” questioned North with a puzzled expression.

“Yeah!”

North raised his eyebrows. “How do you know that?”

“I jumped out the window when I was following Baby Tooth.” It was silent for a while. You realized that sounded really stupid. “She wouldn’t leave without me and… yeah. I didn’t die. But, yeah. I have a power.”

“That’s still not enough to use against Pitch,” argued Jack. “You’re not going alone.”

“I could use a weapon against him! Give me a sword or something, and I’ll be fine!” You had never used a sword in your life. You had only used a foam noodle, plastic pirate sword, and toy lightsaber as a kid, but that didn’t really count.

Jack’s eyes widened. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Are you really asking that question?”

“Well, can I use something else then? Like… um…” You had nothing else. You suddenly thought of something. “What about a gun?”

Jack was about to go against that as well, but North stepped in. “We can find something for you to use.” You were about to do a celebratory dance of some sort, but North cut you off. “You’re not going alone though. We go together to Pitch.”

You pouted and crossed your arms. You supposed it was okay, seeing as you got to go with them and fight instead of being useless. You remembered what Pitch had told you about you being an annoyance to them. You shook the thought out of your head, not wanting them to know about that confrontation. It was not their business. After letting go the thought of you being a burden, you responded with, “Fine.”