First There Were Fearlings...

By Uniasus

Chapter 1 - Kidnapped

Let it be known, that looking back, Jack had no idea it was coming. Sure, he had gotten a bit more popular in the past decades. But that his presence had been shouted to the stars and he'd developed a fan who went to great lengths to kidnap him was not something he had ever expected would happen. Moon no. Especially since the kidnapping was a pretty sudden affair by a crazy person that only gave him time to share a look with Sandy before, wham! he was somewhere new.

And by new, he meant something not of this earth. Or even the Moon maybe. But while he had been told it was really a defunct spaceship, Jack had no idea what it looked like. It could have been like this new place, because as he looked out the window he realized that , yes, that was totally a view from space. Which meant he was in a spaceship. With a crazy woman. Who apparently had parked the ship so far away form Earth Jack couldn't recognize a single constellation in the sky.

Really, he had no idea people this far from Earth even knew of the planet, let alone his pretty face. Suddenly, he wished that had been true.

They were in a room made of metal with a very large window, and she was pressing buttons and pulling levers and for once ignoring him. The ship lurched, the window turned bright white, and Jack had to hide his eyes. Even then, it took a while for his sight to balance out again.

They were moving in space. Oh, this really was not his day.

The crazy woman was pulling on his arms. She was on hyper-speed, words tumbling out of her mouth so fast that even if she was speaking English Jack wouldn't be able to understand. She was pulling on his hair and touching his skin, pressing her fingers against it and watching with amazement at how the pressure didn't change his coloring. She fingered his clothes and got all up in his space Jack had no option but to defend himself.

With a whoosh, the room grew frost. She slipped on the ice, obviously surprised and just gaped at him because, oh man, she had not been expecting that! For a crazy fan-kidnapper, she certainly didn't know much about him.

"Man, you're worse than Baby Tooth. And just like her, I can't understand a single thing you're saying. I mean, I'm flattered and all, that you'd go through all this effort to bring me here to gush, but my answer is no. I won't be Pippa's boyfriend and I certainly won't be yours either! Now, I can give you my autograph, maybe even a piece of my hair if that's the only thing that will calm you down. But hands off! And take me back!"

She just stared at him, eyes wide and blinking, fingers feeling the frost as he just stared.

With a huff, Jack crossed his arms and stared back.

Now that she was, well, a bit more calm, he had the chance to get a good look at her. Long brown hair, the top pulled back into a plait. She was wearing green and had cheekbones and a nose that was creepily familiar. Yellow, yes, yellow eyes looked him over. Barefooted toes to white hair and back.

She said something at him, but Jack shook his head. "I don't speak crazy lady."

She said something else, and Jack understood it was a different language. He still didn't understand it though. "I don't know unhinged either. Don't you know English? Or French? I know a little bit of Spanish and Norwegian, but other than that I think we're at an impasse."

Slowly, the woman stood up, shoes slipping on the frost that was melting to water. Well, at least she was obeying the rules of personal space now. She made a humming noise and turned to a panel behind her. It seemed to be a speaker, if space speakers looked the same as the ones on Earth. She bent over and talked it.

From the ceiling, the phrase repeated. And then again in another language. She looked at Jack, and getting the idea that hey, he was supposed to recognize whatever that phrase was but didn't, shook his head. She frowned, and fiddled with computer things, each time the phrase switched tongues. Finally, finally, what came from the ceiling was something he understood.

She was asking, quite frankly, "Can you understand this?"

"Yup! This one! This is English!"

The crazy woman nodded and moved to a compartment on the far wall. Jack followed, not too close of course because he didn't want to give the crazy woman any more ideas, and watched as she took out two headbands. Disregarding personal space again, she fitted one on Jack's head. It was tight, she obvious had a smaller head even if she was taller, and circled his head like the headbands kids would wear when out in the snow. Soft and fabricy too, until something bit him behind the ear.

"Ow!" He pulled the thing off, had just enough time to see something sliver and pointy coming out of the fabric before she was forcing it back on his head.

"No, no! You can't have my ear!"

She yelled at him in her language, doing her best to put the headband on while he did his best to keep it off.

"Back off!" He shouted, fully fed up, and asserted the command with a blast from his staff. It froze her to the panel, and Jack felt rather pleased with himself at the look on her face.

"I said no! I don't want your head piece or love token or what ever this is, I just want to go back. Take me home!"

She shook her head and said something back at him but he didn't understand. Seeing the problem, she frowned, and then put her hand on the ice holding her in place. Ice, which started to melt far faster than it should have just by touch.

He was on a spaceship with a fire alien!

"Dang it!" Crazy kidnapper lady wasn't just crazy she obviously had some control over fire and/or warmth. Not good, not good for a poor little frost spirit, far from home where his friends and family and power source was. Oh man oh man.

She broke free and Jack immediately jumped into the air. He had fallen back on old habits, but it was quickly evident that there was no wind, sentient or not, he could use to get away from her. He fell to the floor, his knees hitting the metal painfully, and watched with wide eyes as she walked straight for him.

And then around him.

She was at the speaker again, and a translation came down from the ceiling.

"It's just a portable translator! Obvious, you should know stuff like this. You wear it, it hooks into your ear canal, and then works with your brain so that everything others say you hear in the programmed language. Only the main computer has a translation software, and I really don't want to be limited to staying here. The lounge is much better. So quit freaking out and put it on!"

Jack is pretty sure he only put it on because she scared him. She sounded pissed and he was quite surprised there wasn't steam coming out of her ears. Slowly, so as not to startle an attack, he walked over to his fallen headgear and then put it on. It stung when the needle entered his ear canal, but when he understood what she said next, without the use of the booming ceiling voice, he supposed it was worth it.

"Right. Questions. You have them. Shall we talk over drinks?"

"Um...okay?"

He followed as she led the way, mumbling under her breath. Jack was thrilled to find that the headgear not only picked and translated what she was saying, but also changed the volume so it felt like she was speaking at a normal tone.

"He's supposed to be looking out for me! Not the other way around. I bet he's the only one left cuz he's stupid."

Jack decided not to call her out on that comment. It seemed best not to make crazy people angry.

A/N: It must be said that the idea from this fic came from Lindzzz, who in her fic Things That Were mentioned that in that verse Pitch is a juvenile star.

For those of you waiting for more on Facets of Belief, it is finished, but being beta'd. So it'll come. Promise.