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Church of Bones	By : LuciferDragon Category: +M through R > Rise of the Guardians Views: 1334 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Rise of the Guardians world, and I make no profit at all from this fiction. All in good fun.

Chapter List
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7
I knew he was staring at my throat. I didn't have to look at him to know that. The way he kept quiet as he handed me a blanket said it all. I didn't exactly think to put on proper clothes before I left the lair. At least Jack had the decency to not slip peeks, especially now. He had taken me to a cave not far from the pond in Burgess, where he called home. I had found out years ago it was where he fell through the ice and died saving his sister. It was fitting for him to stick around. Maybe he had even found some of his distant family here.
Or maybe Jamie was one of his distant family. I would have chuckled at the thought if I had felt anything at all. I had shut down once I had gotten off Hessian. Everything was gone, only replaced with a dull, persistent ache.
I felt him get closer, sitting right beside me. "Hana, what happened?" He kept quiet, and I knew he was still taking glances at my scarred neck. Not many people had seen the aftereffects of the rope. Only Tia, Hessian, and… and him had ever seen.
Why the horse had taken me to see the man Pitch despised most was beyond me, but at that time I needed someone. Anyone, really. I didn't know what to do. Before I knew it I was crying again, but he did what any nice man would do and just held me, letting me cry. I wasn't sure when the sun had set outside, but when the tears finally stopped I could hear the crickets mingled in with the flow of the water. Jack had stayed silent the whole time, only offering the comfort of another body. With his feelings from the past, he was probably too hesitant to do more, and I was grateful for it.
When I finally calmed down, he tried again. "What happened?"
I told him everything. All the details from even a hundred years ago. And honestly? It felt good to tell someone. I was too confused, too angry to do much else besides talk it out.
He listened closely, taking in everything I said. It took awhile, but when I finally got to the end he let me sit back up, giving me some space. I felt heat return that I hadn't even noticed left me due to the blanket. I had forgotten he could only chill everything he touched. The frost on the blanket proved that. "You have to remember, he's… a complicated guy."
I hadn't been expecting that. Jack took any excuse to make snide remarks about Pitch. Especially after what he had confessed ten years ago. Truthfully I hadn't spent much time around Jack, so I had no idea if anything had changed. With what he said, it seemed it did.
"He was terrified of being alone and forgotten. He was afraid of losing everything he was and is. I can relate to it." He cast his gaze around and stood, wandering around looking for something. "Drago said he regretted it, didn't he?"
"Well, yes, but… I don't know." I pulled the blanket tighter, looking down at the ground. "What if you were told your sister purposefully stood on that cracking ice, knowing you'd save her, knowing you'd drown?"
He paused in picking up stray sticks. "I'd be furious, of course, but if she had reasons…" He resumed his hunt. "Hana, he is a lot more complex than that. I can't begin to tell you how or why; you'd know more than I would what he went through his whole life. It doesn't sound like he targeted only you." He collected a small bundle under his arm. "I was alive as the witch hunting continued. Even after you died it kept going."
I knew that much. Pitch had a very powerful sense of persuasion, I knew that firsthand. I shifted on the ground, feeling the bruises on my thighs from earlier protesting the movement.
"They were started far before you were born as well." He knelt in the center of the cave, putting the sticks together carefully. "You both feed off fear, don't you? Isn't it how you survive?"
I nodded, absentmindedly stroking the bruises under the blanket.
"Can you argue that there is no greater fear than death?"
I shook my head, my anger fading a miniscule amount. Everything Jack said made sense. And Pitch's expression had shown he was truly upset at what he had done in the past. Could I blame him for taking advantage of the plans he had set in motion? Of course not. I myself would have done the same thing in his situation. But, could I forgive him? That was the true question. I looked up as I felt a flare of heat and saw Jack had built a fire. He didn't need one, and I appreciated his kindness. "I don't know what to do."
He sat next to me again, keeping his sight on the fire. "Would you really want to keep living a life where your people, your family cast you out? Where you were thought to be a witch just because you didn't believe in their god?"
I had never thought of the alternative. If there were no such things as witch hunts, if I hadn't have died, I would have continued living a life of misery. My parents would have disowned me for having a non-believer for a daughter. Paul would have left me for not being a good Christian woman who wanted to wait until marriage. The townsfolk would have cast me out for not attending church, for not joining in prayer and song.
In the long run, Pitch had saved me from a life of desolation. In his own way, he had inadvertently given me a new life. A better life. A family that didn't give a damn what I did. Not anymore, at least. A man who loved me and accepted me for who I was. In the screwiest way possible, my death was the true start of my life.
Hessian perked up from where he had been laying behind me, his soft, glowing green eyes set on the entrance of the cave. Jack narrowed his eyes and followed Hessian's focus. "What is it?"
Hessian only snorted and got to his hooves, standing guard in front of the cave.
I frowned. "Hessian?" Immediately following I heard a sharp, reverberating cry that was all too familiar. Hessian stood his ground as something landed outside.
And then I heard and all-too familiar irritated growl. "Stand aside, Hessian. I'm in no mood to play your games."
Hessian only met Pitch's glare and snorted at him, refusing to move.
I scrambled to my feet and put my hands to his strong, skeletal patterned flank. "It's alright. I-I can take it from here." I held the blanket tighter over my shoulders as Hessian looked back to me.
"I can bite him if you wish."
"No. Really, it's fine."
With one last reproachful snort to the man before him, he left the entrance of the cave, standing by the rest of his family and nickering softly.
Jack stood beside me, seeing the others. "I'll keep Drago busy." With a leap helped by Wind he landed by the others, and I could hear Drago's excited voice from here. He enjoyed spending time with Jack. I never questioned it.
I realized how quiet it had gotten, how thick the tension rose. My heart hammered against my chest and I turned, unable to look at him. "Why did you come looking for me? I told you to stay away from me."
"I needed you to understand how sorry I am this all happened."
I returned to the fire, keeping the blanket around my shoulders. My heart screamed at me to forgive him, to let it all pass by as a misunderstanding. My mind said otherwise, even though I had admitted to myself this life was preferable to that of a mortal. I wasn't ready to forgive him so easily for keeping this from me for almost five hundred years.
He sat next to me, leaning back against the wall of the cave. "I know you're angry with me. But please, listen to me at least. If you still don't want anything to do with me, I'll leave, and I'll leave Drago here with you."
I kept my gaze on the flames, listening to the crackling of the sticks. "Does he think I'm mad at him?"
"No. He wishes he never told you though. I wanted to tell you myself."
I couldn't control the rhythm of my heart. It refused to calm down, and it was racing at an almost uncomfortable rate. "Why did you never tell me?"
He was quiet, as if being careful with what he said. I had no idea if he was scared or not. That talent was not one of mine. While I could read the humans, I couldn't read the King of Nightmares. I didn't need it though. I looked to him, surprised to see his hands clenched together, his expression pained. "I never wanted to ruin what we had." He let out a breathy chuckle. "Though I suppose I did after… after all that. When I lost my mind."
I nodded, keeping him in the corner of my eye.
"You have to remember, I was alone for a very long time. Only MiM really was there, and even then, he was just… just a presence. Sanderson came later on, but we never met eye to eye. He represented good things, good thoughts and dreams in everyone, especially children. We were polar opposites, and I was so powerful and cocky I didn't give a damn what he thought. It all wasn't enough. And so, I came up with the idea of witches."
I wanted to feel disgusted, but I couldn't. He was finally being completely honest with me, something I wanted of him for many years now.
"It was the most effective way for me to get my fill of fear without having to lift a finger. I just had to spread the word, and humans believed it. I saw all the trials I had put into motion. Every one of them."
My heart stopped for a second and I stared at him. What was he saying?
"Serah, I watched you die. I-I fed off your fear. That laughter in the woods that night, that was me." He stood and started pacing. He seemed to forget pacing made me nervous. "I was a monster then, I didn't have much remaining of my humanity. Finding you that night though, everything changed. I couldn't leave you out there knowing I caused your death. I couldn't let your rebirth start in so horrible of conditions. I didn't feel as I do now, but I still didn't want to leave you out there.
"Time passed, and you grew on me. I stopped going to the hunts. I didn't need them to remind me of what… what I did to you."
"What you did to me?" I got up, leaving the blanket behind. I held on to his arms to make him stop pacing. "Pitch, you gave me a new life. Yes, it took my death to get it, but…" I tentatively reached up, cupping his face with my hand. He leaned into it like I were a lifeline, holding on to it with his own hand. "But, I wouldn't give up this life for anything. You gave me everything I wanted, and more. You've been a better lover than I had my whole life. You gave me a son, a stable life. I'd rather be with you in my rebirth than live out my mortal life cast out by everyone. You are fear made real. I shouldn't expect any different from you. I love you, and that won't ever change, Kozmotis."
He let out a breath of a laugh, in obvious relief. "I thought you'd hate me forever."
"I did hate you. Until Hessian brought me here, and Jack put everything in perspective."
His laugh cut short and he looked at me in disbelief. "Frost did what?"
"He made me realize what life I would have lived had you never started the hunts. That wasn't the life for me. I'd rather be here, with you, Drago, and everyone else." I looked at his chest. "I'll forgive you, for now. Just, please. Is there anything else you aren't telling me? I don't think my heart can take any more."
"No, there's nothing. I swear it." He pulled me into a tight embrace and I held on to his shoulders. "There's nothing more."
For once in a long time, I believed him. "You know, I am still a little angry with you."
"I know…"
"When we get time alone, I think you need to be punished for what you've done."
I felt a shiver run through him. It wasn't often I tried switching our roles, but he seemed to enjoy it when I did. "I think I do. When we get back, my queen is in command. Whatever you desire." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the collar. "I didn't know if you wanted this back or not."
My hand went to my throat, my fingers slowly trailing over the divots made hundreds of years ago. Even now, as I swallowed, I hated feeling the gouges in my skin. I nodded and turned around, letting him secure it back in place.
A distant howl outside made us freeze and turn our attention to the entrance of the cave. I had almost forgotten about the revenant entirely. However, it didn't seem like it forgot about its intended target. A shout shortly followed, making my blood run cold. "It's Jamie. He's in trouble."
- 6
- 7
- 8
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Church of Bones