Tooth held onto Jack's hand as they glided across the a frozen river. Tooth followed Jack's lead on command.
"Ready?" Jack said. Tooth nodded then Jack let go of her hand letting her skate the opposite direction, Tooth glided around in circles then began to do something with her wings, fluttering then faster than usual almost like a helicopter, lifting one leg up as she spun around in ballerina pose.
Jack skated closer to Tooth once she came to a stop. They glided towards one another. Tooth ran into Jack with a hand around his waist.
"You can kiss me if you want," Tooth said.
And so he did. Jack was smitten and awestruck for a second, but something didn't seem right. It felt fake and artificial, like kissing a ghost. The air began to turn hot and humid, the outskirts of the ice were melting. Jack found himself pulling his lips apart from someone else. A red headed girl.
He felt strangely lustful, then guilty and disgusted.
Ravin Breeze stared Jack in the eye, then placed a hand on his cheek. Kissing him a second time.
"Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me." Ravin mouthed.
Suddenly the ice rink began to melt.
Jack woke with a start. Sitting up on his bed, finding himself sleeping in North's living room, all the other guardians spread around the floor sound asleep in sleeping bags.
"What's wrong Jack?" someone asked.
Jack turned, it was only North. Jack scratched his head then looked away. Jack walked outside and ushered North to follow. He definitely didn't want anyone to overhear their conversation.
"Look," he said, "don't tell anyone, but, I think I have feelings ... for two girls."
"Ah. Girl problems," North coughed.
North pulled a heart out of his pocket and placed it into Jack's hand.
"Follow your heart," North whispered, "for if you're dishonest with your heart and the ones you love..." he looked at Jack's palm gesturing at the heart.
Jack looked into his palms and found a crack forming in between the wooden heart. It abruptly split in half. Jack was startled, then handed the heart back to North. He headed for the door, and flew off into the night sky.
Jack found himself lying on a fence, blocking the pathway between a snow covered path and a river. The night sky was so bright and dark blue in the night sky and the full moon. He wished Tooth were here. Something shuffled from inside the bushes, Jack held onto his staff in a defence stance.
"Trouble sleeping aye mate?" said a male Australian accent.
"Who needs sleep?" Jack said, "we're immortal, we're guardians. Last I remembered I didn't sleep for five whole months. Tooth used to go without sleep for years!"
Tooth. She was always the first thing on his mind now a days. When he first discovered he was the guardian of fun, he never would have imagined the Tooth fairy being such an important part of his life. He didn't think much about her at first, up until they defeated Pitch Black, he started to notice her in a different way. A crush. He still remembered that day she hugged him after they had saved the world from eternal darkness. Up until that day she had confessed her feelings and asked him out on a date. It was during that time that Jack had come to a realisation that he liked her too, she had guts. Jack's type of woman. Then Ravin Breeze came into his thoughts.
"I can agree with you there. But we are heading into battle, you know. Gotta save all the energy & strength we have." Bunny chimed in.
"Right," Jack brushed him off.
"You know, I was married once," Bunny added.
"You were?"
"Yes. To a hare, who I discovered had an affair behind my back." Bunny said bitterly.
"Women are complicated. I don't trust them. You're better off a free man," Bunny looked up at Jack.
Follow your heart
Rang in Jack's head.
* * *
By the time Jack had returned to check up on everyone else at North's workshop, no one was there. Just empty sleeping bags.
Someone large and tall emerged from the shadows.
"The girls flew off into the night sky hours ago," North said. "I assumed they went out to look for you. It's 5 am in the morning, you know we are going to war in several hours."
No. No. No. No. No. "It's not safe out there on her own." Jack thought out loud. He retreated outside, then looked back at North. "You coming or what."
Turns out North had other ideas. Jack rode on Santa's slay, pulled by the might of the hovering reindeers. He liked the feeling of the air brushing against his skin and pushing him back. He flew like this all the time. What he didn't like was hanging onto the sled for dear life, as if one wrong turn could send you falling to your demise.
They landed at a park where the Reindeer's had sniffed out Tooth's scent. Jack hopped off the sled, disoriented.
Jack spotted a kid's playground from walking distance. Then a girl with red firey hair. He followed.
Ravin Breeze sat by a swing, watching her feet dangle so effortlessly. She hovered towards Jack.
"Where's Tooth?" Jack asked.
Without further adieu, Ravin Breeze had placed her arms around Jack's neck. She kissed him. It turned into a passionate French kiss. A ring of light enforced itself all around the two, then made a sound like two metals colliding together. They know the longer they stood together, they would disintegrate. It felt like being burned in lava and both freezing to death in drowning in an arctic ice berg all at once. Jack backed away from Ravin Breeze, and a good distance. They were a strand away from almost obliterating into ashes. He couldn't admit whether he enjoyed the kiss, but he did kiss her back in the moment. Not only that, but he had inherited her memories.
"You died saving four kids from a burnt out building during a game of hide and seek," Jack said. "You didn't make it out alive." He explained to her he had died a similar way.
"My memories you saw it? I remember everything now. I was just a girl. I was Australian. I had a family..." she looked at Jack, tears submerging in her eyes.
"You ... that kiss brought my memories back. The protection of cupid. I didn't need Pitch Black's help after all. Because Cupid, she's his daughter. All I had to do was get Jack Frost to fall in love with me."
Jack couldn't tell whether Ravin was embarrassed, upset, or smitten, or angry all at once. She was blushing tomato red. Gee, Jack knew he was a Casanova, but this made him hold back a smirk. It was cute, but at the same time sad and scary. It suddenly dawned on Jack what had happened, and he hoped Tooth never found out.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY MAN!" Tooth fluttered into existence. She lunged at Ravin Breeze, knocking her into the ground. Tooth's whole feathery arm began to submerge in flames. Jack cooled them down for her.
"And you. Don't touch me!" Tooth bit back the urge to cry and scream all at once. "I trusted you." tears streamed down her delicate face.
"Tooth. No." Jack felt so guilty, he didn't know what to say. "It was for Ravin's memories."
Tooth was the angriest Jack had ever seen her. Jealousy and rage in her eyes. She didn't run away this time. Jack had just noticed the bow and arrow hanging around her left shoulder. She shot an arrow right at Ravin Breeze. Tooth had come a long way with arrow shooting. All that training among the guardians had paid off, Jack would have been proud, if they were in a different situation.
Ravin Breeze dodged the arrow. Both girls ran at one another.
A dark energy made itself known from behind the battle. Pitch Black, in full form stepped out from the shadows.
"How?" Jack gulped.
Pitch eyed both girls like he had been watching a boxing match, excited to bet on which player would win.
"Darkness, bitterness and energy fuels them, making me more alive with every step. They will fight until the death. Or more along the lines of Ravin Breeze will burn alive Toothiana, then join me as the new Princess of darkness." Pitch let out a villainous laugh.
Jack punched Pitch in the face. "Not on my watch." Then again. Pitch black dissipated into black smoke. Then reappeared from behind. Jack punched, then whacked him with all his might and anger.
"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND!" Jack shouted.
He turned to find the two girls in a battle of dodge the bow and flames. Tooth shooting her arrows, and Ravin shooting flames.
Jack knew this wasn't going to be pretty, especially if Pitch was right.
Pitch hefted his arms into the air then a spiral of dark energy rained from the sky. Dark spirits, shadows, lots of nightmare horses. Jack has seen this happen before, history was repeated itself.
He saw Sandy from half a yard away in the sky, doing his best to keep the light in children's dreams. The nightmare spirits began to infect the good dreams and darken them.
Jack returned his attention to the cat fight between Tooth and Ravin.
"Choose one girl, my love," a woman's voice whispered in his ears. "Who do you truly love?" It was cupid, the guardian of love. Who's side was she on anyway? Jack never liked or trusted Cupid. Once a would be princess of darkness, always a nuisance.
Jack wasn't going to choose and let the other die like a fool. He remembered the Easter bunny's words,
Women are complicated, don't trust them. You're better off a free man
Tooth's feathers were already burning away. Her eyes were also pure dark, black and obsidian. So were Ravin's. They were being controlled by an evil force.
Before coming to a decision a flash of grey furriness leaped into the scene. The Easter Bunny held tooth back, bounding her wrists then encasing her hands in a giant egg behind her back. He patted the burn off her feathers, then took her with him inside a rabbit hole. She would be safer that way.
Pitch Black was getting away. Jack flew after the would be prince of darkness. He hefted his staff into the air, then as if on cue a Icey, Ravin and Jack's pet hybrid Fireball emerged. He multiplied into several clones. The Iceys attached themselves to Jack's Wooden staff.
"What the..." Jack stared.
Jack's staff began to elongate, then change shape as if it were moulding itself. Jack's staff had turned into a long ass ice sword.
"Woah." Jack whispered among himself. He grabbed the hilt of the sword, and thrusted it at Pitch Black's back. The sword punctured itself into Pitch's coat then flesh. Pitch arched his back. Black blood spewed out.
Before he could even absorb what had happened. Ravin lunges herself towards Pitch Black, in a fireball of fury and shot right into his chest.
He opened his mouth as if to say ouch! But no sound came out. "Why you—" he evaporated into dusts of black smoke. The sword of ice stabbed its way into the pile of ash, facing upwards. Before Jack could heave his sword out Ravin Breeze materialised like a dying light bulb, lying on top of Pitch Black's ashes.
The four other guardians rushed to the scene. Sandy. Bunny. North. Tooth. Jack wondered how Tooth had returned so suddenly.
Ravin's breath slowed down rapidly. Her heat still flickering on and off like a dying light bulb.
"No. Ravin Breeze." Tooth cried.
"Thankyou for everything, you guys. You showed me what it was like, to be a guardian," she said.
"You leaving?" Jack asked.
Ravin Breeze looked up at Jack, wincing with effort. Jack crouched down and met her eyes.
"I'm sorry for getting in the way. I had no choice, I was corrupted by love and darkness. I see now we were never meant to be anyways..." She coughed, she sounded like it hurt to speak. Tooth looked slightly hurt and jealous by those words, mixed with a pity, sorrow and forgiveness.
"Thankyou for saving all of us. You shouldn't have sacrificed yourself," Tooth said softly.
"Tooth. Jack. You two are end game. Take care of each other. All of you, Easter Bunny, Sandman, Santa Clause. All I want is to see your face. Just one last time," she croaked, smiled at Jack then diminished into red smoke and soot.
The guardians stood together in a line, grieving in silence.
"Did she suffer?" asked a woman's voice. The live action Jessica Rabbit made her way from behind them *cough* Cupid.
"She was smiling," Jack replied.
Cupid was dressed in black leather today, and combat boots. Like she was ready for action. Different from her usual fancy formal wear.
Cupid hovered her hand over the ashes as they transformed into red and black petals that began to hover and float past them with the sudden gust of wind. The petals smacked against Jack's face as they glided as if to say take that Frost! Even in death, or goodbye.
Jack put an arm around Tooth. She turned and faced him, putting her arms around him too. They hugged for a moments silence. All the bitterness and jealousy had turned to forgiveness and mourning.
That night the guardians held a ceremony in loving memory of Ravin Breeze, the guardian of mischief. A hero. They had a statue of her installed beside a fountain outside the North's globe room, among a beautifully stone decorated bird bath.
Once again, peace was restored. Hopefully, for a long time.