Rise of the Guardians: Fall of the Guardians

Chapter 4 - Who's Ribcage?

Pitch groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose a she sat on his dark throne. “Why couldn’t the spirit of Halloween be a skeleton or some pumpkin-head? Why am I stuck with a bratty child that seems adamant on trying my patience?” He moved his hands up to his temples, rubbing them furiously. “I hate children so.”

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. “Pitchy?” Trii called out as he cracked the door open. “Are you in here?”

Pitch forced a fond smile upon his face. “My dear boy, what can I do to help you?”

Trii swiftly strode over to Pitch’s throne. “I am bored,” he complained. “When is Jack going to come?”

“He will in due time, now that he knows the truth of what was.”

“Then will you play with me until he gets here?” Trii held up one of smiling pumpkin bags innocently.

Pitch refrained from rolling his eyes. “You know that I would, without a doubt, love to dedicate my entire day to making sure you are happy, but I am very busy at the moment.”

Trii pouted. “You aren’t busy. I bet you were napping before I came in here.”

“I most certainly was not,” he growled. “I am extremely busy, in fact, you must leave now.” Pitch started to lead Trii out of the room. “Go bother someone else with your childish whims.”

“But I just-”

Suddenly, the doors smashed open. “Hey,” Jack greeted with a smirk and a wave of his hand. “What’s up?”

“Jack?” both Trii and Pitch said at the same time. A grin broke out across Trii’s face.

“Jack!” He flung himself at the older boy, wrapping his arms around him. “Now we can play!”

“Not so fast, Korteet.” Pitch crossed his arms over his chest. “I have a few questions for Jack.”

“Fire away, Pitch.” Jack patted Trii gently on the head, ruffling his hair. “What do you need to know?”

“Why are you here?”

“I got that gift that you left me, in the rafters.” Jack bit his lip. “I didn’t know. T-Thank you for showing me the truth.”

Pitch nodded his head in approval of his answers. “What is it that you hope to accomplish by joining our ranks?”

Jack narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “I want to take down the Guardians.”

The shadow man clapped his hands together. “Good. Good.” He then patted Trii on the head. “Now you two may run off. We have much to do later, so take the time no0w to get better acquainted.”

“If the boss man commands.” Trii started to push Jack out of the room. “Let’s go! I wanna show you someone!”

The pair had barely gotten the door shut when there was a loud bang from inside the room, followed by a “Korteet!”. Said person covered his mouth with his hands as he erupted into chuckles.

“What did you do?” Jack asked as they dashed down the hall.

Trii smirked. “I put one of my pumpkin-paintballs in his seat. He sat without looking and… boom.”

“I only have one question for you, mister,” Jack stated with a smirk. “What color?”

“Gold.”

“Sweet.”

“Korteet!” Pitch screamed from behind them. “When I get my hands on you-”

*******************

“So what is it that you wanted to show me?” Jack asked, sitting down across from Trii, who was rummaging through a trunk in his room. It was narrow and rather dark, being located in the “attic” of the castle. There was only one small window and it was about seven feet above their heads.

“I want to show you my very best friend.” Getting behind the old trunk, Trii tipped it over. A barrage of bones scattered across the floor, causing Jack to scoot away from it in a rush.

“What the-”

“Jack,” Trii interrupted, “meet Ribcage.” Before Jack could say another word, the bones started to shake. In a split second, they flew into the air and started to form something.

A tall creature, that nearly resembled a horse, stood above Jack. Red flames erupted from it’s nostrils with each breath that it took. Those same flames ran through it’s body, connecting the bones together. Jack held his breath as the creature stared him down.

“Ribcage, this is Jack,” Trii introduced as he patted Ribcage on the head. “Say ‘hello’.”

Suddenly, the flames turned blue and Ribcage smiled. He dragged a bone, which Jack could only assume was supposed to be his tongue, up the side of Jack’s face. Ribcage then silently crouched low and wagged it’s long tail, looking more like a large dog now.

“He is made up of parts that I have found each Halloween,” Trii explained as he pulled out one of Ribcage’s ribs and tossed it. Ribcage immediately chased after it, bringing it back so that the action could be repeated over and over again. “I have added one piece to him each year.”

“Impressive.” Jack patted his lap. Ribcage, seeing this, clambered over to him. Jack ran his hands over the skull, scratching behind it’s ears. “So does he almost get along with others this well?”

Trii chuckled as he sat down next to Jack. “Actually, you are the first person to meet him.”

“Really?” Jack quirked an eyebrow and stilled his hand. Seeing that Jack was no longer petting him, Ribcage moved his skull to Trii’s loving hands. “Not even your other friends?”

“I didn’t really have any other friends,” Trii admitted, his smile fading. “While kids love my holiday, they all think that I am scary. To them, I appear as their worst fear and they all take off running. Other mythical people never really liked being around me either, so it has just been Ribcage and me.” Trii wrapped his arms around Ribcage’s head, holding it tightly to his chest.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be.” Trii grinned up at him. “Now I have lots of friends. I have Pitchy, Sir Digs-A-Lot, Lucky Charms, Sparky, and you, Frosty.”

Jack smiled fondly. “You sure do.” He ruffled Trii’s hair. “You know, I was a lot like you before.”

“Really?”

“You bet. Only kids couldn’t see me.” Jack held out his hand, snowflakes forming and dancing delicately as they fell to the floor and evaporated. “I use to be all by myself. I had no family, no friends that could see me, and no memories if a time when I did.”

“So what did you do?” Trii asked. Even Ribcage had lifted his head to stare at Jack, seeming to be listening as well.

Jack opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the door opening.

Shamrook flicked his fedora up so that he could see the par better. “Ay. Pitch is calling ye. He wants to go ova… thee plan.”