Rise of the Guardians One-shots pt.3

You Stayed

here is part 2 of "Stay With Me" 

I've changed the plot a lot to where Nicky won't be fully going into the future but it will be alternate pasts. It'll make sense when you read it. 

TW: self-harm, suicide, parental bullying

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Nicky blinked away the white light as Zach had taken them somewhere. He looked around as they stood by Jack's lake. He saw the pooka about to say something but he cut him off. 

"No offense but I'd rather not see my past with my father. Any moment of the past." He watched as Zach just smiled at him. 

"Who said I was showing your past?" That made Nicky stop. He slowly looked around again to see that the woods around him were not the same that he had seen before. The trees and landscape were darker, the area wasn't happy like it usually felt. He jumped a noise behind him. 

Nicky turned to find Jack land on the ground behind him. He gasped when he saw the injuries covering his friend. There were burns on his body and arms. He looked as the past version of Jack looked up to the moon. 

"What the hell am I doing wrong? Why is my life like this?" He swallowed as he watched Jack break down. He ran his head through his hair in a nervous movement, he wanted to comfort him but he knew he couldn't. He gasped when he saw the knife in Jack's hands. 

"I can't take his anymore!" Nicky ran forward to stop him, forgetting this wasn't real. He stood infront of Jack has he tried to take the knife away from the past memory. 

"JACK!" He jumped at the sound of Bunny's yell. He stumbled back as Aster tackled Jack, ripping the knife out of his hands. He watched as the pooka pinned Jack's arms around him. He was holding him against his chest whispering in his ear. He watched as his friend screamed his pain out of his body while his father shed silent tears. He knew Jack's pain was Bunny's pain. 

"I-I didn't mean to. I'm s-sorry!" 

"Shh, I know, kit. I know you didn't." 

Nicky put a hand over his mouth as he listened. Jack had lost himself in the heat of the breakdown and almost did something he would regret. He went to look to Zach, to say something, but white light covered his vision. He blinked as he looked at the same area but a different outcome. 

He stumbled back in shock as Bunny held Jack in his arms, but he had succeeded in what he was going to do. He watched as the pooka sobbed into his son's body. He felt tears cover his face as the spirit of Jack Frost argued with death to the side, begging the reaper to bring him back. That he was lost in the breakdown. 

"In this line of the past, Jack succeeded in committing. He didn't truly mean to do it so he got stuck in the middle of life and death. He wasn't able to move on because he was a restless spirit who wasn't ready. He spoke to Bunny through Death himself. He wasn't able to come back." 

Nicky watched as the image slowly faded around them, the bright light making him cover his eyes. He waited for the light to fade before he looked around again at a different scene. It was a small field next to a cabin. He looked around trying to find another marker of what this could be. 

"You're a disgrace boy! Get out of my sight!" He flinched at the man's voice before turning to find Marcus. He watched as the Summer spirit he knew flinched away from his father. Marcus looked around the age he was now.

Nicky watched the scene unfold that Marcus ran from home into the woods. He followed behind him in a sprint before finding the other knelt beside a cliff. It was a big enough drop to kill. He watched as Marcus slowly walked up to the edge. He watched as the other let one foot hang off the side.