Draped in Darkness

Chapter 4

Ignorance is bliss... Or so Pitch likes to think so

It was cold. Too cold.

A chill coursed through his body. The wind was pulling on his sweater as it howled at him in alarm. Jack squinted as the wind proceeded to then hit him at full-force. If he had little to no experience with it he would probably have tumbled off the roof by now. A hiss escaped him as he pushed himself up onto numb knees, feeling unbalanced. At least the burning had stopped; only a slight throbbing was left now - leaving him feeling off-kilter and a little restless. He must have slept longer than he thought, he would usually spend most of his time burning off energy flying through the skies and causing general mischief. The frost spirit readied himself before launching off the roof-top, allowing the wind to carry him. He blinked as the wind, instead of carrying him away, lowered him slowly - if a little gracelessly - onto the floor. He tried to launch himself off of the ground again but the wind refused to carry him. The incident before had probably weakened him. No matter how much Jack tried to reason with himself he couldn't help but doubt himself. It seemed entirely likely, it probably didn't help that he was missing his staff. He was rarely without it and so had never really tried to exercise his power without the staff. It helped to channels his powers and focus but only now did he realize how much he relied on it. Again, what happened before had not been expected and had obviously drained him, mentally and physically. Maybe now wasn't the time to practice, especially since he didn't want to sleep any longer.

What happened had been bizarre, and Jack had no idea what to do. No way to know what was happening by himself. Not that that was unusual for him. The Guardians usually filled the holes in his scattered knowledge on the supernatural and on spirits in general. He needed to work on that. He couldn't rely on the Guardians to help him out anymore. Not anymore...

Before Jack could allow himself to ponder the topic of the Guardians, a wisp of black smoke brushed against his arm and Jack backed himself against the wall of Jamie's house in alarm. A thick cloud of grey fog had rolled in from nowhere and he felt a heartbeat in his head as he realised he had been too caught up in his thoughts to realise what was happening around him. Like he had in the workshop...

The fog suddenly started to waft and waver as the area just in front of Jack started to darken. A black area soon became an outlined silhouette of a man as the figure seemed to grow increasingly in size. They were advancing towards the frost spirit. Jack went to raise his staff before realising he was unarmed. Not allowing himself to outwardly show fear he settled for glaring at the figure instead, keeping the unknown male in his line of vision. The male stopped a little distance away from Jack, he seemed to be considering whether to move further forward and reveal himself. As much as Jack wanted to know who the figure was he felt entirely too exposed and especially vulnerable without his staff or usual energy. Deciding Jack didn't want to be entirely defenceless Jack allows ice to crackle from his palm up his left arm, spiking out. It's showy enough to make it look at least a little threatening but is mainly for defence and not as a mêlée weapon. As the ice spreads to his shoulder it makes an eery crunch and cracking noise, similar to the break of ice when stepped on - something Jack had been all too familiar with...

However, the stranger didn't seem deterred by Jack's attempts at feigning power and instead they advanced again. Jack took a few shallow breaths, and focused on his hand - allowing himself to stop producing the ice so he could save it, expecting an attack. When nothing happened he looked to the stranger and his eyes widened dramatically.

"P-Pitch?" Jack gaped as Pitch gave the frost spirit a feral grin. The nightmare king was stood in front of him, calm and collected as ever, however, he had never looked so different. He looked deathly. That usual air of darkness he carried around with him seemed tame compared to how it once was. He looked gaunt - starving. It then occurred to Jack that maybe the fog that had been produced was just for show, just as Jack had done with his ice. Jack looked at Pitch expectantly, he was expecting an attack, for Pitch to taunt him just as he used to. Instead, he just stood there, seeming to analyse Jack just as Jack was with Pitch. Pitch was still tall and with his decrease in shadows it allowed Jack to focus on the spirit's bodily strength. He looked physically powerful. The trace of muscles could be seen under his black robe, he was far stronger than Jack was, that's for sure. However, in terms of real power... Pitch didn't seem to be playing mind games. Not like he used to, when he would move through shadows. Maybe it was taxing? There was a show of power but nothing to prove he was anywhere near as limitless with his abilities as he used to be.

"What happened to you?"

Jack averted his gaze as Pitch squinted at the question, "I could ask you the same thing."

Jack blinked, partly not expecting Pitch to sound the same after all these years, yet that voice was as strong and self-assured as it had been back then. Jack took in what the older spirit said, he knew he probably looked a mess. He hadn't thought to straighten his clothing and hair out and he knew that sleeping on a roof generally made him look a like a mess without all the drama of the other day.

Jack shook his head, "You look like a shadow of yourself." He couldn't help the internal laugh as his mouth quirked a little and a slight chuckle escaped his lips before he could reel it in.

Pitch puffed out a little air and rolled his eyes,"Not much changes, does it?"

This caused Jack to go very still. He couldn't help but feel there was some underlying message in that simple sentence. He couldn't know, could he? About what happened at the workshop.

Pitch seemed to observe Jack for a moment before smirking, "Ah, maybe some things really don't change. Still having problems with them are we?"

Jack shivered a little as Pitch growled towards the end of his sentence, a dominating growl. 'Wait, what?'

Jack suddenly felt anger course through him as he remembered everything that the Nightmare King had caused, everything he had said to him, how he had reacted back then...

'I'm going to ignore you, but, you must be used to that by now.'

'...why, you're doing it right now.'

'More to the point Jack, what did you do?'

Everything went white, literally blinded by anger and rage. He felt a fire bubble under his skin, felt the same agonizing pull that had brought him to his knees before, but right now... None of that mattered. Not when anger was first on the agenda, anything to get rid of that hollow, sinking feeling that had dug it's claws into his gut.

Then he felt a different pain. One that focused all his attention on the hand clamped around his upper arm, painfully so.

Everything stayed the same. For a moment he thought he was dead. 'Ironically enough.' Everything was still white, although the anger quickly filtered away, as did the pain. He soon realised that he was back in the 'real world' and it was Burgess itself that was white; covered in thick powdery snow, he didn't remember it being like that before...

"You must control yourself, Frost!" Jack jumped at the older spirits forgotten presence as well as the authoritative tone Pitch used, his nails dug into Jacks arm...hard. Enough to make Jack squirm a little. Pitch had white speckles of - quickly melting - snow tangled in his short coarse hair, his eyes were emanating a pale golden light and his lips were set in a firm line. He looked frazzled yet too firm to actually be fearful of Jack's display, which was more than could be said for Jack. He noticed his arms were shaking slightly and his breathing was ragged. (Not that Jack needed to breathe at all but the action itself brought him comfort)

"But, I- " Jack was cut off as Pitch tugged at his arm, effectively making the frost spirit trip over himself.

"You are coming with me."

"What?! No way, get off me! OW! Stop dragging me, get off! Ah! Let go!" Pitch continued to drag Jack until they reached an alleyway that had not been touched by the snow and was instead shrouded in darkness. Pitch gripped even tighter - if possible - on Jacks arm and the spirit found all he could see was black. He could feel his body being stretched and pulled, like he was attached to a rack. A tarr like substance collected in his throat, preventing him from screaming or crying out. His body turned unbelievably warm and he eventually closed his eyes tightly, willing himself to collapse again.

The stretching stopped. Jack opened his eyes and saw a network of tunnels.

Jack blinked up at Pitch who was already releasing Jack's arm and walking forward himself. Jack glared a little at the back of the shades head as he placed a shaky foot forward. He should leave now, he was certain he could make a run for it. Yet, Jack was intrigued. Pitch was here. Alive. And Pitch had brought him here, to his lair. For what, Jack didn't know but he was fairly certain he would rather find out than turn a blind eye to it. Maybe he could make himself useful to the Guardians this way. Just the thought made Jack perk up a little. He could finally be useful. If Pitch was planning an attack he could warn them, he could- No, no he couldn't. Not after what he did...

"Are you always this slow?" Jack scoffed at Pitch, there was a teasing tone to his voice and Jack felt offended. Normally it was him that was doing the teasing.

"Are you always this cryptic?" Jack shot back, steadying himself as he tripped over a crack in the floor.

Pitch cocked his head to the side, considering Jack with that steel gaze, tossing a smug smirk at him as he slowed down a little to allow Jack time to catch up.

"If the occasion calls for it, then yes." Frost rolled his eyes in reply, even though he was pretty sure Pitch couldn't see him. He frowned a little at himself. Since when had he and Pitch been on speaking terms?

'Antarctica'... that little voice in his head again. Jack shook his head, willing himself to ignore it... Now was not the time.

"I'd say I've been kept in the dark for long enough~" Jack smirked as he caught Pitch shaking his head a little at the pun.

"Must you always jest?" Pitch looked at him with a steely gaze, "You're afraid, yet you find something to make light of. Maybe that center of 'fun' is to blame... You must harbour hatred for it at times..." It was more of a statement than a question. Yet Jack felt the need to explain himself.

"Of course I'm going to 'jest' as you put it, that's pretty much my job. Secondly, of course I'm a little scared, you drag me off without giving me any explanation and why would I hate a center that is fun? Fun is good, and... light, for some of us anyway."

"Or a burden. You play the fool well Jack. But fun can weigh a person down."

"Hardly... I'm light as a feather." Jack muttered to himself, knowing that Pitch could hear him well enough when a heavy sigh escaped him. To demonstrate his point Jack tried to hover a little, testing his powers again. It lasted only a moment and then he stumbled onto hard rocks, almost knocking into Pitch as he did. A slight blush made its way to pale cheeks as Pitch stifled a smug laugh.

Jack continued on behind Pitch in silence. Instead deciding to conserve his energy and simply observe Pitch for a while, just in case he decided to pull something, he could still be leading him to a trap.


Sorry it's been a while. I thought I'd finally update this, sorry it took so long! Pitch and Jack finally meet and Pitch is as cryptic as usual :).

Thank you for all the kind messages and reviews, I appreciate all the feedback given and try my best to apply it, it's always great to know if you guys like what you're reading so do let me know if you like or even didn't like something ^^

Thank you again and if you have any problems or criticism please let me know, if you think there is something that you would like to see in this fic I'd be happy to hear it and will fully credit you with any ideas you have that apply to the story.

Hope you like it and thank you for the support! ^^


~Vorpal Insanity~