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Growing Pains	By : Kylee_Phoenix Category: +M through R > Rise of the Guardians Views: 3193 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or The Guardians of Childhood Series, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
            Jamie let himself go and spilled his love into Jack's mouth, and on the other end, Jack channeled all of the energy into forcing Pitch out of his mind and body.
            Pitch rocked back, looking stunned for a few seconds, but he quickly recovered.
            "Clever, Jack, but it's not enough to fight me!" He half yelled half growled the threat. "I am too old and too powerful for you to best me with such a simple trick!"
            "You're forgetting, Pitch. This is still my body and my head." Jack strained against Pitch's power. "I have control here. . . and I'm evicting you now."
            Jack turned his full strength towards the Nightmare King, the villain's body dwindling and twisting until he became nothing but a collection of spinning shadows.
            A figure that bore a few similarities to Pitch materialized inside the shadows, in what appeared to be an old fashioned military style uniform. He struggled with what was left of Pitch, strangling the darkness.
            When the shadow spoke, it was a murky echo of Pitch. The sound sent shivers up Jack's spine.
            "Here we are again, Kozmotis. You think you can defeat me now? You submitted to me, remember? You belong to me, forever. . ." The voice dissolved into a sick, oily hiss.
            "Not anymore. It's over. You no longer have control or power over me." He turned to Jack. "I'll take care of the fearlings, once you push them out. I'll make sure they never posses another soul."
            "You can't defeat me! I am fear! I am darkness! I will never die!" The shadows screamed at them with the sharp, scratchy shrill of a harpy.
            Jack and Kozmotis both focused on pushing against the horrors as hard as they could, and with a sick pop, Jack's head fell back, his eyes glazing over for a few seconds as the shadows spilled out of him.
            Jamie scrambled backwards, wide eyed and gasping, trying to understand what was happening.
            "Jack?"
            When his head snapped back again, it was his Jack, and there was a sadness in his eyes for what he'd had to do, what he'd had to let happen, but it was the only way he could think of to break free and make sure that Pitch would not harm Jamie's sister, would not ever harm anyone again.
            "It's okay Jamie. It's me."
            Jamie's eyes shifted to the shadows and another figure who was wrestling with them in the corner of his room.
            He was still confused, but his brain began to put the bits together, what must have really happened after he'd been whisked away by the night mare. The little strange inconsistencies in Jack's personality made much more sense now, but they didn't have time for him to puzzle through the rest.
            He jumped up, scrambling into a pair of boxers and tossing Jack's pants to him from the floor.
            "How can we help him?"
            Jamie asked Jack, and Jack shook his head, unsure and still a little hazy as he struggled into the pants.
            Kozmotis answered.
            "I need something secure, a box, with a key. Something I can lock them inside of."
            Jamie nodded and raced to grab the key to the one thing that he could think of off the top of his head, the chest at the end of his bed. Besides the sketchbook, there had really been nothing in it of real value. It was filled with bulky winter blankets and a few jackets. He grabbed the key from his pants pocket, and threw it to Kozmotis while he and Jack threw the chest open and quickly grabbed all the contents, piling them on Jamie's bed.
            "Home fit for a horror, " Jamie said to Jack, and Jack nodded.
            "A dark locked box that will never see the light of day again? I think that's pretty fitting."
            "Oy, heads up!" Jack and Jamie moved quickly out of the way as Kozmotis wrestled the horror into the box and locked it quickly, sealing it with the last of the overflow energy and his own knowledge of the magic which held dark entities.
            Jack threw his hand up in the air with a victory cheer, and Jamie hugged him, grinning.
            "You're going to have to explain to me who just gave me a blow job one of these days." He laughed and buried his face in Jack's hair.
            Jack looked a little sheepish, not sure what to say, but ultimately glad that Jamie was not completely scarred for life over what had just happened. He smiled, thinking he shouldn't be surprised. Jamie was smart, after all, and he had changed.
            The Jamie who stood before him was most assuredly closer to a man than the boy Jack had met eight years ago. He had grown up.
            "It's okay," Jamie said after he sensed Jack's hesitation. "I understand, you did what you had to do. I'm behind you all the way, whatever it was."
            There was a tone of seriousness to it, but the angst that had been with Jamie all winter, all year really, seemed to have retreated into the dark, locked box with the horrors that Kozmotis had finally managed to lock away after all these years of them wreaking havoc on the world.
            Kozmotis sighed.
            "There will be others, there always are, but these are subdued. You won't be having anymore trouble with Pitch."
            He looked as if he were going to apologize for the things he'd done while the horrors had control of his body as Pitch Black, but Jack smiled and clapped him on the back.
            "It's nice to finally meet you General of the Galaxies."
            Kozmotis smiled and nodded.
            "The part of Pitch that was me greatly enjoyed having you around to spar with, Jack." There was a certain glint in his eyes when he spoke of it that Jamie thought he recognized.
            "Everyone loves Jack, don't they?" He grinned and punched Jack on the arm, teasingly.
            "With good reason, I should say."
            Kozmotis addressed Jack seriously for a moment.
            "You brought back my humanity, Jack. In all the years I was trapped inside of myself with the fearlings, I never thought that possible again, but you did."
            He extended his hand to shake Jack's, but Jack pulled him in for a close hug.
            "Thank you," Kozmotis said gratefully.
            When they both pulled back from the embrace, Jack chuckled.
            "Brought back your humanity. . . I'm not even human anymore."
            Kozmotis smiled.
            "You were once. Part of you will always be. Just don't forget that part as the years go by. Make sure to keep people around who remind you." He smiled warmly at Jamie.
            "So what happens now?" Jamie asked. "Where will you go? And what do I do with this?"
            He kicked the box softly, and it thudded back at him.
            "I will take it with me, to the end of the universe, and drop it into the black hole that constantly swallows the end. Nothing can escape it, and it's where they belong, the constantly hungry darkness."
            Jack was concerned.
            "But what will happen to you?"
            Kozmotis smiled sadly.
            "I will finally be able to rest knowing that I've saved the future from the damage these fearlings could do."
            Jack shook his head.
            "No, I can't let you sacrifice yourself. Not after you finally escaped from them. You could have a life-"
            Kozmotis held his hand up and shook his head.
            "This is what I was meant to do. My assignment is the protection of the many worlds, and my post is with these horrors. The fate of these fearlings and I have always been entwined."
            "There has to be another way. We'll think of it, then you can go back to your daughter," Jack protested.
            The General sighed, sadly, his eyes heavy with grief.
            "Even if we could find another way, I am merely an echo with shape now. The energy that I was able to channel inside your head will only keep me in this solid form for long enough to drop that box off where it cannot harm anyone else. The past is gone, and there is no bringing it back. It is what I do with this second chance that I have which matters most."
            Jack did not like it, but he knew Kozmotis was right, and it was his choice, after all, what he did with what was left of his life. He remembered the words of the General from earlier.

There are those who choose to do nothing and those who choose to do what needs to be done.
            Pitch had been right, Jack was the latter, and he respected Kozmotis for being that as well.
            "I suppose I should say good luck and safe travels then," he said resignedly.
            Kozmotis nodded and hefted the large trunk over his shoulder, tossing the key back to Jamie before leaving.
            "Keep that safe. Just in case."
            Jamie smiled and nodded.
            "Will do."
            They both watched in awe as Kozmotis disappeared in a flash of light.

            Mother Nature watched him fly across the sky, a passing comet. She smiled, for she knew exactly what she was looking at, and she felt glad that her father was finally free of the fearlings and on the last leg of his journey to his final resting place.
            "Goodbye father. Your little girl loves you, always."
            She blew him a kiss, and it exploded in a shower of snowfall.
            Tsar Lunar, from his home on the moon, caught a glimpse of the comet through his telescope as he kept vigil over the earth. His constant companion, Nightlight, caught a smile pass across his face.
            "Rest in peace at last, General Pitchiner."
            Jamie turned to Jack after the last sign of light from the comet faded away into the darkness among the stars.
            "So what now, Jack?"
            Jack met his gaze, and his clear, blue eyes shone brightly. Jamie smiled as he caught a hint of North's Wonder and Tooth's Memory, and even Bunny's Hope.
            "Whatever we want," he said simply, smiling back.
            A naughty grin spread slowly over Jamie's lips like honey.
            "I think I know exactly what you want."
            Jack raised an eyebrow, grinning back.
            "A happy ending?"
            "YES."
            And Jamie showed Jack exactly what a happy ending felt like.
- 9
- 10
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Growing Pains