Elsa was taken to the observation deck. The Nightmares crowded her at every point and she was well aware of the smirk Pitch had stitched across his face behind her. She held herself tall as she walked. She did not need guiding, the Arrendelle was her ship after all, but for some reason Pitch insisted on muttering which turn she ought to take. Elsa felt as though he did it without thinking, something that seemed so strange to her. The Nightmare King took pleasure in being so thorough with his actions and precise in his words. It was almost comical now that she heard him murmuring lefts and rights to himself.

Dare she say it, it made him seem almost human?

Elsa shook the thought off like cold water. He wasn't human. The anguish he had forced into her mind over the last few days was enough to make her certain of that singular fact. No matter what this awful being did and said to her, Elsa had to remember that he was not human. They reached the door to the observation deck and Elsa automatically went to type in the passcode for the top deck. The pad flashed red and beeped shrilly.

"You didn't think we would forget to change the codes, did you?"

"Apologies, Captain. I forgot about my rather sudden demotion." Elsa wished her words were sharp enough to cut him physically but Pitch just smiled and typed a different number faster than Elsa could see.

The door opened with a metallic click and Elsa pushed her way past the tall figure of Pitch. She ignored the look of satisfaction the Nightmare threw at her but stopped short as she saw what was waiting for her on the observation deck.

Elsa had expected food, after all Pitch had brought her up here to eat. What she hadn't even begun to imagine finding was her second in command tied to a chair and beaten close to a pulp.

"Commander Frost?" There was no answer and she rushed to his side. No one stopped her. Elsa cradled his face in her heads and the young man only managed a hiss of pain. "Jack, what the hell happened to you?" Elsa whipped around and stood nose to chest with Pitch. "What the hell have you done to him?!"

The Nightmare King shrugged and looked down at her without blinking. His yellow eyes bored into her blue ones and she had to force herself to keep her gaze steady.

"He has been continually uncooperative. We don't take kindly to humans in general, and those who constantly try to attack and demean us we like even less."

Elsa remembered the first night and the panic of seeing Jacks bloodied body on the screen as that strange siren rang in her head. She had thought that all of her crew was dead but maybe this meant that others are still alive? Elsa didn't dare let herself hold out too much hope. Then her mind jumped unbidden to the mental torture she had endured over the past few days, all for far less than what she knew Jack could do when he was really angry.

"Then why is he still alive?" This question must've taken the creature by surprise and Elsa used this to the best of her advantage. "When you were in my mind you said if I resisted you'd kill me. Why have you saved him?"

"'Saved him'? Oh dear, Miss Telvi I do believe you are quite mistaken. He had not been 'saved', he has been retained." Pitch swept around her as she knelt by Jack, trying to assess the damage. "As I'm sure you're aware, Nightmares work best when we've fed and it's difficult to have a fresh supply of fear out in the vacuum of space. So when we took your space I ordered my crew to keep the strongest of your crew relatively unharmed." Pitch was gloating at this point and Elsa refused to look at him, focusing her energy on cleaning the dried blood on Jacks face. "Do you understand Miss Telvi? You are all here because we have allowed you to live."

The thought sent a bolt of cold through Elsa and she sat back on her haunches. Surveying Jacks face, she knew she couldn't do much more to the swollen areas without medical supplies. Besides, her stomach was starting to hurt with hunger and the food laid out looked divine.

"You may eat."

Elsa shot a contemptuous look at Pitch and stood. There was fear running inside her, how could there be anything other than fear after what she had experienced during the last few days, but still she knew she would do anything but go along with whatever Pitch was doing willingly. In the back of her mind, she fully believed that Pitch knew this too.

"You will allow Commander Frost to eat too."

"Will I now?" Pitch looked amused, as though a child or some animal was doing a trick in front of him. Elsa pressed on.

"Yes, he will sit here and eat with me. You brought him here to scare me, and now your game is over you will let him eat. He is not an animal, and you claim that neither are you. Act like the gentleman you are trying to prove yourself to be."

That hit hard and Elsa was proud of the words. Pitch held her in his gaze for a long, hard moment before waving at one of his underlings. The creature, a small spindly thing with all too little flesh on his bones, run forward to untie Jack. Elsa placed a hand on his shoulder, half placating and half steadying, but held Pitch's look until Jack groaned a thanks at her. She seated herself between the two, all too aware of the danger in the situation.

The meal passed in relative silence. Pitch didn't speak. He only stared at the two humans and slowly sipped something from a glass. Elsa wasn't surprised as she knew that Nightmares didn't eat food by need. Besides, judging by the amount he had scared her over the past few days, she doubted Pitch was at all hungry. She saw the cuts on Jacks face and shivered. Elsa did not want to know what the other Nightmares had done to him and the surviving members of her crew. Jack, unsurprisingly, wasn't keen on discussing it either.

Elsa ate her fill but no more. She refused to stuff herself in front of Pitch. She was certain that would give him endless amounts of pleasure, knowing that she was at his mercy when it came to sustenance. Jack, on the otherhand, ate like a man possessed. So much so that Elsa had to tell him to slow down, like a mother to a child. It was heart breaking to see a man she respected and worked with, broken so completely. To distract herself Elsa glared at Pitch. The Nightmare only returned the look with nothing but cold in his eyes, and they sat like that until Jack was done and breathing heavily at Elsa's side.

"Captain Elsa, I'm sorry. We did everything we could but they-"

Elsa turned to the young man and smiled as warmly as she could, trying to avoid looking at the cuts and bruises but failing miserably.

"Don't worry Commander. I need you to get better and regain your strength, don't dwell on the past. Besides, it wasn't anybodies fault."

'But my own…' Elsa had a sickening feeling that a smile flickered on the edge of Pitch's mouth when she thought that, but she must've imagined it. The Nightmare King got up from his seat opposite the pair and started talking to one of the other Nightmares. This time it was a bigger, more brutish being with a nasty looking belt full of weapons. Once he'd left, Jacks voice dropped to barely a whisper and he leaned forward, trying to hide his words as best as he could.

"Captain, do you think they're going to kill the rest of us?"

Elsa sighed, knowing that was both the ultimate question and fear for her and the remaining crew members. She feared for all of their lives. She couldn't lie to him. Elsa owed this man who fought so bravely against these attackers the truth.

"Eventually? Yes Commander Frost. I believe they have every intention of killing us soon or later." An idea flashed in her mind and something not dissimilar to electricity or plasma ran through her body. If Jack had told Elsa that in that moment he could see the ghosts of her parents in her eyes, she would have believed him in a heartbeat. "But I'm not going to let then get that far."

A/N: Right, so apparently I pissed some people off with my third chapter. Not because I have a boring story or because I write badly, but due to the fact I stated in my authors note that there was to be no Jack/Elsa romance in this. Well, sorry to say this guys but at no point did I promise a romantic relationship with Jack involved. It states quite clearly in my top little snippet that this is a Pitch/Elsa story. Feel free to send me hate messages but Jelsa has a hell of a lot of stories to choose from. Pitch/Elsa does not.

Thank you very much to all who review my stories with compliments and constructive criticism, every little bit of encouragement means a lot to me!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!