To be a Guardian Part 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Jack Frost, Bunnymund, or any other character from the Rise of the Guardians universe, I just love them a lot.
"This isn't working; we can't keep up like this." Jack said, pacing back and forth in North's office.
"Well we don't seem to have much of a choice, unless either of you have a brilliant idea to save the world, in which case I'm all ears," Pitch said sarcastically, looking from Jack to Jamie.
"We have to try, were the only thing standing between black and the rest of the world." Jamie said grimly.
The three were in North office, Jack pacing the floor, Pitch sitting in the throne like chair behind North's desk usually reserved for the large man himself, and Jamie leaning against the wall near the door. Jack looked at Jamie for a long moment, and when he did finally speak his words were slow and measured "How. We are losing, it has been four night Jamie, FOUR! And were down Tooth, Aster, North and Sandy!" Jack said holding up his hand and counting off the fallen guardians on his fingers, his voice rising as he spoke. "Who are we going to lose tonight? You? Me? Pitch? We can barely keep them back as it is, they nearly got to the city last night, and now were down Sandy. How are we supposed to hold out for another TWO WEEKS?"
Jamie looked down, thinking hard. After several long minutes of silence he spoke "There may be a way."
Jack and Pitch stared at him, shocked. "You may have a way to be Black? And you waited until now to bring it up why?" Jack said, keeping his voice calm with some effort.
"Because, it would not have been possible before now, and it's not something I consider lightly." Jamie explained, his voice serious.
"And what is this magical solution?" Pitch asked.
Jamie took a deep breath and said "Think of the time stream as a piece of fabric. When I use my powers, however slightly, a tiny little tear appears in it, hardly worth mentioning, after a little time to heal the tear is repaired like it was never there. However, over the last four days, I have been forced to use my powers far more often than is strictly wise. If we can get to Black, and hold him in place long enough, I can try to create a small tear in the time stream within him. The force of it opening should suck him completely off the timeline."
Jack looked at Jamie, confusion clear on his face "So he would be dead then?"
"No. He wouldn't BE anything; he would be gone, completely and entirely from time itself. To destroy something so completely, even something like Black…" Jamie shook his head slowly.
"Alright," Jack said, suddenly businesslike "how are we going to do this?"
"Black is attacking LA tonight." Jamie said flatly.
"Can you do it tonight?" Jack asked
Jamie looked away, his face was scrunched in contemplation, the lines on his face even more pronounced than usual. After several moment of silence he said "…yes" sounding very reluctant. With Jamie's confirmation, they spent another hour planning how they were going to intact his plan.
Finally Jack took a deep breath and heading toward the door "Alright, we leave as dusk then, until then go rest and prepare for tonight. If all goes well this will be the last night we fight Black." Jack said, nodding to Pitch and Jamie and walking from the room. After Aster had been attacked by Black, Jack had taken a much more active role in planning strategies, doing whatever he could to help in the defense against Black. He felt he owned it to Aster. His mate had sacrificed himself to save him, and he was NOT going to waste that. He would do whatever he could to stop Black, and Jamie's plan gave him hope that they may actually succeed.
Jack walked the familiar path to the large room that served as the palace's hospital. He made his way straight to the bed in the left corner of the room, sparing a glance at Tooth North and Sandy as he passed them, coming to a stop at Aster's bed. The rabbit lay there, his face twisted in pain, the usually white gray fur was nearly black. It hurt Jack to see Aster this way, especially because he blamed himself for it, but he couldn't stay away. He had stayed in the chair next to Aster's bed every night since his mate had saved him, unable to face the empty bed in their room. Now he sat in the chair, reaching over grabbing Aster's hand. He explained their plan to him, going into details he knew the rabbit would want were he awake.
About an hour later Jack stood to leave, leaned down and kissed Aster on the forehead as he always did and said "Don't worry, with any luck Black will be gone tonight, and then you'll be ok." Jack looked at Aster, at the face twisted in pain and wanted nothing more than to curl up in his strong arms, feel his soft paws rubbing his back, his reassuringly calm voice telling him everything would be ok. "You should have let Black get me" he said to Aster "They need you right now, not me, I'm not the strong one, I'm not cut out for this responsibility. You were always so much stronger than me…" Jack leaned down a pressed his forehead to Asters, closing his eyes he whispered "I need you…I feel lost without you."
"You don't give yourself enough credit"
Jack jumped, spinning around to look at Pitch, standing near the door. He hadn't noticed to spirit of fear enter the room. He didn't respond to Pitch's comment, just looked at him warily.
Pitch continued, not moving from his place just in front of the door "You doing better than I would have thought possible Jack." He refused to meet Jack's eye, glancing at Aster he said "Your rabbit knew what he was doing. He knew we would need your power…would need you, if we were ever going to be able to defeat Black." Pitch turned to leave, but stopped when Jack spoke.
"Why?" Jack asked cautiously.
"You're going to have to be a teensy bit more specific then that Jacky." He said.
"Why are you helping us? Why are you risking yourself? Why are you…I don't even know what to call this" Jack gestured to the room and situation in general
"This is a hospital Jack, its where you take sick people," Pitch said condescendingly.
"Fine, don't tell me, but don't give me that 'self-preservation' crap, if that were the case you wouldn't still be here with us at such a huge disadvantage, you'd be hiding and hoping that Manny takes care of Pitch before he kills everyone."
Pitch looked at Jack for a long moment before saying "We are who we are Jacky, and that never changes. Trust me on that," and then he opened the door and slipped out, leaving Jack lone with Pitch's words swimming through his mind.
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Jack, Jamie and Pitch were gathered in North's study, all looking firmly determined. Jack opened and closed his mouth several times, feeling that he should say something, but not finding the words. Finally he grabbed the snow globe from North's desk, said "Los Angeles" and tossed is, stepping through the magical portal as soon as it formed.
The too familiar scene of Deathlings amassing over the city greeted Jack as he appeared on the other side of the portal, Jamie and Pitch materializing a second later. "Spread out, signal if you find Black." Jack said before launching himself as the swirling black mass he had grown to loath. He searched for Black as he flew around destroying Deathling, his eyes darting around for any sign of the slightly more solid mass of shadows that marked the spirit of Death. Several hours of freezing Deathlings later Jack heard the call from Jamie, singling that Black had been found at last.
Flying towards the sound Jack steeled himself. This was their chance. They had to destroy Black now, or they might not get a second change. Images of Tooth, Sandy, North and Aster flashed to hi mind, their faces that unnatural grayscale, twisted in fear and pain. He came upon Jamie a moment later, the Guardians of Time was pointing at mass of living shadow which was currently chasing Pitch through the air. The spirit of fear was shouting something at Black as he easily kept out of the blackness's reach. Jack couldn't hear Pitch's words through the strong winds at this height, but his face was lit up, almost like he was laughing as he flew, sending a occasional bolt of black energy into the monster chasing him.
"Go help him, I'll prepare the rip." Jamie said, his face twisted slightly as though the words tasted bad in his mouth.
Jack nodded in response and shot off after Black, falling in alongside to flank the spirit, firing off bolt after bolt of crackling white-blue energy from his staff. He and Pitch lead Black around the sky, always staying just out of his reach, waiting for Jamie.
Finally, after nearly fifteen minutes of flying full speed Jack heard Jamie shout "It's done, get away from him!"
Jack banked to his left, putting as much distance between himself and Black as possible, he saw Pitch doing the same in the opposite direction. Jack waited, watching the living darkness intently, looking for some sign that what Jamie had done was working. His eyes strained against the darkness, falling upon a shimmer in the air, near the center of Black. He watched in horrified fascination as the shadow was pulled to the point, seemingly vanishing itself where it met. Jack felt himself relax, it was working!
Jack's relived expression vanished as he looked at Jamie, the look of horror on his friends face making Jack's heart sink to his toes. "He's going to escape!" Jamie yelled. Indeed, looking on in horror Jack saw the Shadow pulling away from the point, slowly but steadily escaping from its fate.
A wordless yell echoed through the sky and Jack saw Pitch plummeting toward Black, his dark robes spreading, becoming a shroud of darkness that encased Black as Pitch collided with the swirling darkness. "PITCH!" Jack shouted as he saw both spirits getting pulled toward the shimmering point. Pitch looked at Jack, his eyes locking with the winter spirits, and Jack saw contentment. Pitch's expression was peaceful as he held Black in place, both of them being pulled from time. I bright light flared from the point, forcing Jack to shield his eyes, looking away. When he was finally able to look back to where Black and Pitch had been, he saw only empty air. Indeed, the night was clear, the masses of Deathling were gone as well. The only evidence that Black Death or Pitch Black had ever existed was the look of shocked disbelief on Jack's face, and deep sorrow on Jamie's.
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Jack stood in North's study, his fellow guardians surrounding him, Aster more literally then the others, listening to him recount the events of the previous night.
"I can't believe…" Tooth said when Jack told them about Pitch.
"It does not make sense" North was protesting, trying to make sense of Jack's words.
Aster didn't say anything, simply shook his head somberly as he absently stroked Jack's arm.
Jack leaned against Aster, fighting a losing battle to keep his eyes open. He had been up for nearly three solid days, had fought Black two separate times and had helped revive the other guardians. He was exhausted, and try as he might he could not concentrate on the conversation his fellow guardians were having.
His mind drifting to much more pleasant things, like when Aster had awoken from Black's…spell…grip…whatever. Jack had been at his side, the large rabbit waking just after Tooth had. Jack smiled as Aster blinked open his eyes, a smile spreading across his mate's face as his eyes focused, bringing Jack's face into view. "Jack," Aster said.
"Aster…" Jack had whispered back, leaning had forehead against the rabbits. And then he had cried, joy, relief, and exhaustion washed over him, finally breaking down the determined mask he had been wearing the last few days, and he buried his head in Aster's neck. He cried until his sobs turned into laughter and back again. Aster held him and rubbed his back he cry-laughed, feeling like he may have gone crazy. It had felt like the weight of the world had been on his shoulders these last few days, and in a way it had been, and the lifting of that burden made him feel giddy.
Finally calming down Jack pulled away from Aster. Cuffing the rabbit on the side of his head Jack said "Your idiot! Don't you ever do something so stupid again or I swear-" Jack was cut off as Aster leaned forward and kissed him, effectively silencing both his mouth and his mind. Jack didn't know how long the kissed lasted, though it couldn't have been more the a few moments, it felt like hours. He had longed for the familiar comfort so badly since Black first attacked Aster, so now he left himself melt into the kiss, sighing as he felt Aster wrap his arms around him, holding him close. Finally they broke apart "I love you" Jack said.
The returned "I love you to," made Jack smile, he had missed those words.
It was at that point that Jack realized his memories had shifted into a dream. He was no longer in the hospital room, nor was he in North's study. He was flying high in the night sky, the lights some large city twinkling below him. Looking around he saw  familiar golden plane flying toward him, only Sandy wisent steering, Aster was. Jack did a double take, only to see the plane burst into an explosion of dust which fell away to reveal Sandy, standing on a pogo-stick juggling what looked to be several tiny rabbits that strongly resembled Aster when he had been losing his powers. Sandy winked at Jack and threw each rabbit into the air where it exploded like a firework, producing several miniature versions of Tooth, all of which streaked toward his mouth shouting "are they really white as snow?" Jack flinched away. When he opened his eyes his dream had taken on a different feel. Pitch was floating several feet in front of him, staring at Jack, who stared back, unsure of what to do. Suddenly Pitch collapsed into a thin black smoke. In the distance Jack could see Pitch flying in front of a roiling mass of shadow, shouting. This time, Jack could clearly hear what the spirit of fear was saying, "I am not your slave! I will not serve you! I helped you once, but never again! You won't win this time; I'll make sure of it." Each sentence was punctuated with a black of black energy shot at Black. The scene finished, and once again Pitch was standing there, staring at Jack.  
"…Thank you." Jack said, feeling it was the right thing to say.
Pitch let out a single, soundless laugh, a small smile spreading across his face before gesturing dismissively at Jack.
Jack jerked awake, pushing himself up into a sitting position, his breathing short and labored. He was in his and Astor's room he realized as he looked around. Aster was sitting next to him looking concerned "What's wrong Jack? Are you alright?" his voice was worried as he spoke.
"I'm fine…" Jack said uncertainly, trying to make sense of his dream. The first part had defiantly been a dream, and a strange one at that, probably a product of his lack of sleep. The second half however, once Pitch had appeared, seemed like something more. It had felt like he was there, watching the battle again. Finally he looked at Aster and said "We owe Pitch a lot."
"We do." Aster agreed, then added slightly reluctantly "…I wish I hadn't been quite so hard on him."
Jack looked at Aster; his mate's face was somber. He leaned over, wrapping his arms around Aster's neck "You had good reason to be."
Aster didn't respond, just wrapped his arms around Jack and hugged him close.
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The next day all the guardians, save for Jamie, who Jack hadn't seen since the battle, were gathered in North's central control room, surrounding the mural on the floor. There was an outline of North, a solid red, Sandy in a glimmering gold, Toot's outline was multi colored, Bunny's the same soft white-gray of his fur. The blue symbol that was Jack had appeared shortly after he had become an official guardian, a sign that he truly belonged among their ranks. Jamie's figure was a dark brown rimmed with yellow; it too had appeared shortly after he'd been chosen to be a guardian. Now though, the gathered spirits were staring at an image that had appeared overnight, a tall completely black figure.
Nobody seemed to know what to say. Finally Jack stepped forward slightly and said, mirroring his words to Aster the previous night "We owe him a lot…the world owes him a lot. He died a guardian." The other murmured their agreement, and then, as a group, they turned and headed to one of the large common rooms of North's palace.
Once there they talked for a long time, about what had happened, about what was going to happen, and about simple, smaller thing. They talked for hours, simply enjoying each other's presence. At one point Jack got up, excusing himself to go and visit the washroom. When he returned he was slightly surprised to see that Aster had gotten up from where they had been sitting on the couch and was standing by the fireplace. The rabbit was standing taller the usually, his ears tilted slightly down, he looked slightly distressed. At the sound of Jack entering the room he turned, his eyes brightening as he looked at Jack.
Jack walked over to him, looking him over slightly concerned "Are you alright?"
Aster cleared his throat slightly before speaking "Ya, I'm fine. I was thinking actually, about what you said. Pitch did what he did so that all of us, the entire world, could live free of Black's threat, that's why Manny added him to the mural."
"Alright, I'm glad to see you don't hate him anymore…" Jack said, still looking confused. That didn't explain why Aster looked like he was about to be sick.
"Ya, well, I was thinking, we really should be more grateful for our lives, and what we have in them, out of respect for his memory if nothing else." Aster said, talking rather fast. Jack was getting more and more confused, Aster was rambling, something he almost never did. The last time Jack could remember him like that was when he had first asked if Jack would move into his Warren with him, all those years ago. Jack looked around at the other guardians for an explanation but got none. Looking back as Aster he jumped in surprise, his mouth dropping open, his hand moving up to cover in.
Aster was looking at him, kneeling down on one knee, which put him at eye level with Jack, and holding out the most beautiful ring Jack had ever soon. It was simple and elegant, looking like someone had taken a strand of platinum and blue diamond and braided them together, forming a ring out of the resulting string. Hold out the beautiful ring Aster said "Jack, for the last hundred years you have made me the happiest being in the world. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?"
Jack stared as Aster, his mate, the person he loved me than anything in this world, and felt his heart rising in his chest. He had never expected this from the rabbit, marriage was a human tradition, and they were already bonded in more ways than he could count. Still, thinking about actually marring Aster, making his vows in front of their friends was very appealing, and he found that he wanted it. Finally finding his voice, he shakily said "Of course!" Aster beamed, reaching out and putting the ring on his finger before pulling him into a hug.
Around them their friends celebrated, North bellowing out a joyous laugh, Tooth practically chirping in excitement, Sandy wavering his hands in the air, throwing little dream sand fireworks above his head. Jack looked around at his friend, and back at his ma-finance, and smiled, feeling joy and hope welling up in him. Joy for all that he had in his life, and Hope for what promised to be a very bright future.