Author's Note: So I realize that I accidentally called Dianna by the name Katherine. Sorry if there was any confusion.
Pitch Black and Jack Frost awoke to a blood curling scream of terror. Both jerked fully alert and that's when Pitch remembered; the young girl. Jack clung to his older lover when he suddenly felt the blackness wrap around himself and Pitch, dropping them through the darkness. The young teen's heart pounded as his mind struggled to keep up with what was happening. They arrived in what Jack used as his personal room to find the young girl belligerently struggling from the bed onto the floor.
Panicked eyes searched over her own body as she accessed the situation. Clothes that weren't her own clothed her body. Her body ached all over from injuries that appeared to be healing, but not quite there yet. The girl's mind raced. 'Where am I? What's going on and who brought me here? I had fought that… wait, that boy! Oh my god…'
Pitch and Jack stepped from the darkness snapping her away from her thoughts. She narrowed her eyes and crouched into a position like a predator ready to attack. Teeth bared and a growl drifted from her throat.
The Nightmare King could read her emotions clearly and immediately knew what her greatest fear was.
"Now now. That's not a very nice way to thank the ones who helped your wounds, and you shouldn't be moving like that yet. It will make your injuries swell. We aren't going to hurt you in any way, and I guarantee you we have not done anything other than addressed your injuries." Pitch said smoothly and calmly placing his hands in a peace making position taking another step closer.
The girl backed up a step and blinked her eyes a few times. 'That guy… I have seen him before somewhere..'
Jack stepped forward a couple steps with his hands up similar to the Boogeyman's and tried to give his most charming smile. "Hey, nice to see you awake." He said cheerfully as if the girl wasn't acting like a wild animal.
The girl paused weighing her options. There was no way she could escape right now. It didn't seem like they hurt her further or violated he in any way. They also didn't forcefully try to restrain her and it was noticeable that she had bandages. Giving in to attempting to be less hostile she perked up sitting on her knees. If she was going stay she supposed introductions and getting acquainted would help. It was against what she was accustomed to. Trusting or giving anyone the option to know her in any way always ended up hurting her. She pushed past her thoughts and looked at the two guys standing watching her.
Pitch felt the enormous waves of emotions the girl was currently going through. It repulsed him, because of what the girl's greatest fear was.
"Please, return to the bed so your injuries are not stressed. They have not had enough time yet." Pitch said in a calm manner removing his hands from the air to tuck behind his back.
The girl ignored his request to ask some questions before complying. "Who are you?" She asked with parched voice that wavered more than she cared for.
"Oh, I'm Jack Frost and this is Pitch Black. We're spirits, like you." The young teen answered trying to keep calm. Excitement dripped from his voice from the girl finally talking to them. "We're spirits like you, so I guess that sums up why we can see each other." He stated next and then quickly feeling silly; stating the obvious and all.
"Why are you helping me?" She asked unconcerned with whether or not the obvious was stated.
Jack's face twisted confused. "You were hurt and alone. It's not like I'd just leave you there."
"No one does something for someone else without a payment in return. What do you want? I refuse to slave for you." The girl's eyes held intense expression, and her voice mirrored it.
"What? No. We are just helping you. You don't owe us anything for it." The winter sprite replied taken aback.
"Perhaps you would have preferred to stay by the water's edge and suffer? Jack found you and brought you here. End of story. There is nothing I want nor require from you." Pitch frankly stated losing patience.
The girl sat still for a moment mulling what was said over. She tried to stand, but her body refused to move. Embarrassed she tried to play it off by sitting on her bottom. She hated looking weak in front of anyone. Especially men.
Pitch extended his shadows to her and helped her up by carrying her to the bed. She squirmed feeling another wave of panic, but it receded when the shadows placed her onto the bed. She looked away and mumbled a 'thank you' feeling exhausted.
Jack walked up to the bedside table and poured her some water from the pitcher, which she drank quickly in large gulps.
"What's your name?" the frosted teen asked curiously. The girl just looked at him like he grew another head. "I told you our names, but you never gave us yours."
"Jack, it's quite alright. Maybe we should let her rest some more before asking any questions." Pitch said trying to make sure that the girl wouldn't crack under sudden questions.
Jack turned his head to gaze at his older lover, but then the girl spoke.
"Clara… I mean Clair." She answered quietly laying back to rest her aching muscles.
"How old are you, and what happened to you?" The winter guardian couldn't hold back his questions.
"Jack!" Pitch's voice held a certain warning that the teen pushed aside for the moment.
"Um.." The girl wasn't sure how to answer. She died a day before her birthday, but was rebirthed by Mother Nature's doing, and has been living as a spirit ever since. "Seventeen I guess." She answered deciding that technically she was still seventeen.
"I'm eighteen! I've never met another spirit my age before!" Jack said excitedly.
The girl just weakly smiled in response. Tiredness was settling heavily upon her. The Nightmare King walked to the bedside and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder.
"Why don't you lay down and rest some more? We can get more pleasantries done later." Pitch suggested to the girl who faintly nodded in response.
Jack then became aware that he should stop talking now. "Yea.." He said sheepishly scratching the back of his neck and looking to the side.
Clair was already asleep when the young guardian looked back at her. Gently he pulled the covers over her and tucked them in so she wouldn't get cold.
Pitch and Jack appeared back into Pitch's bedroom by shadow. Jack sat down on the bed with excitement. He had met someone his own age, and she was a spirit. Maybe they could eventually become friends and do fun stuff together. Pitch watched amused at his young lover's excitement, the edges of his lips curling into a smile.
"Is this the first time she woke up like that?" Jack asked generally curious.
"She has not woken quite like that before. Clair seems to have some issues with night terrors. I have been trying to therapeutically help it with a dream influencing method I have been working on." Pitch answered honestly.
"Wait, what dream method?" The teen asked confused. Pitch couldn't influence dreams other than a negative way, right?
"Since discovering the issues you've been having sleeping I have been developing my dream sand to do other things other than cause nightmares. The new sand allows me to actually enter myself into a person's dream. As in I travel through the shadow of the dream sand into the sub conscious and am able to actually be seen or heard directly. It gives me the advantage to be able to curve the direction of the dream."
"But won't the dark dream sand bend it into a nightmare eventually?"
"Not if I won't allow my nightmare to touch it."
"But why would you help her like that? Are you using her as a guinea pig?"
Pitch arched an eyebrow. Jack could be incredibly perceptive when he wanted.
"I will admit that I am testing it with her before you so that I can make sure the kinks are out before trying it on you. However, I also will say her nightmares are very different from yours. No one should have the type of fear that plagues her." Pitch said sitting beside his young lover.
"What do you mean?" The young winter teen didn't want to push it with the questions, but at the same time he wanted to know. What could be such an offensive fear that the King of nightmares would want to stop it?
Pitch sat quiet for a moment considering how to answer. He decided it was best to answer as simple as possible.
"Something vile even for me. Rape." He answered quietly with a serious note in his voice.
Jack furrowed his eyebrows looking Pitch in the eyes not understanding. It was then the Nightmare King knew the next question to come.
"What is that?" Jack asked with his head tilted to the side.
Jack sat alone on the bed sickened and his stomach churning with disgust. Questions rang through his mind. 'Did something like that happen to Clair? Was it something someone threatened her with? Did it happen to her before becoming a spirit? Has she always been a spirit? Did she die before becoming a spirit? Who made her one?' The young guardian put a hand to his forehead suddenly recalling the dream he had. The dream he had of Mother Nature bringing her human form to life as a spirit. What had caused that dream to happen?
"Looks like you're still deep in thoughts. Perhaps I should have not told you.." The Nightmare King's voice held its velvety smoothness.
Jack looked up at Pitch as he glided across the room to sit next to him on the bed. Pitch placed a hand to the teen's cheek, gently caressing it as he gazed into his young lover's eyes. He saw the teen's eyes full of questions and worry.
"I know it troubles you, precious. That is why I did not want to tell you." Pitch's voice was surprisingly softer than usual.
The Nightmare King frowned at himself, but kept a gentle smile on his face. He didn't want to care for this winter sprite the way he did. Pleasure should be taken from the teen's turmoil, but the Boogeyman couldn't find it in himself to enjoy it. Wasn't his heart supposed to be twisted, dark, and cruel? Being nothing but a cold dead organ too contaminated by darkness? Where was all this sense of humanity coming from? The Nightmare King knew the answer. A certain young white haired teen was responsible without even realizing it. Jack was changing him… is changing him. The Nightmare King side of him hated it, despised it. The old part of himself, Kozmotis Pitchiner drank it in with desperation of not wanting to be a monster.
"I dreamed about her." Jack said somehow making it sound like a question and a statement together.
Pitch snapped out of his own personal thoughts at that and blinked a few times arching an eyebrow.
"You dreamed about who?" The Nightmare King questioned.
"Clair. When I woke up that first time after being hurt. I dreamed that she was dead by the water's edge of my pond. Mother Nature was there and touched her, and when she did Clair sat up… alive!" Jack started to shake remembering the other part, and tears formed at the corners of his eyes. "And.. and.. Jamie w-was there. He.. he, He withered away to nothing! Just turned to dust!" Jack cried with a sense of panicked loss. "And I fell through the ice! I was alone.. I don't want… I was burning and alone and Jamie was gone and no one was there!" His voice shaking and no longer able to pinpoint one emotion. It just tore through him like crashing waves.
The young teen shook as a sob ripped through his shaking body causing him to double forward. His older lover caught him and held him tightly to his chest. One hand stroke the back of the teen's head as he whispered comforting soothing words to Jack trying to get the teen to calm down. Slowly the sobs slowed and broke to occasional whimpers. When Pitch was certain that his young lover was done crying and was calm again he leaned back to gaze into his eyes. The dark spirit brought his hands to Jack's face. An empathetic look placed upon the features of his face.
"Jack, you are not going to be alone ever again. You are with me, mine now. I will never leave you or cast you out." There was no malice or threat in his statement.
The Nightmare King knew it was true without a doubt. Jack Frost was his obsession, his drug, his fix. The one thing that drove him mad and so full of many desires and emotions he didn't know he could experience still. Jack was the only light in his existence making his life bearable, and without him he would surely drive into madness never seen or experienced before.
Jack responded with a small smile. As much as he loved that Pitch said that, it saddened him. He didn't want to be just a possession. He didn't was to be viewed as a toy or playmate. The young guardian wanted to be seen and recognized as a partner. Wanted to be loved and cherished as an equal to Pitch. Part of him knew the Boogeyman loved him, but the way he was treated brought him doubt. Pitch said he loved him, but how can someone truly love if they treat you like a toy.. a pet? Was saying 'I love you' only to pacify him? Jack sighed through his nose.
"This dream you had of Mother Nature and Clair…" Pitch started making the young teen snap to attention. "I have heard of something like this happening before. I suppose it is true then."
"What is?" Jack asked with his head tilted to the side.
"It's been said that if two people die in the same place the same way and are reborn they form some kind of connection. A bond. It allows them to dream or have visions of the other's life, death and rebirth. Capable of even being able to feel or sense the other's emotions or thoughts." Pitch furrowed his eyebrows together.
This was one of the reasons he did not want the girl to stay. Jack is his, and someone else being able to connect to his emotions bothered him. It was bad enough with the guardians and children taking some of Jack away. Even if it was a small amount compared to his, he didn't want to share, period. Pitch knew that he could make Jack be only his by force, but he admired and love the winter sprite for being who he was. Besides, it wouldn't be genuine then. Not to say that if it came down to it…
"She died in my pond, too?" Jack asked in a mix of surprise and horror.
"Yes." Pitch confirmed.
"How? Wait, how do you know this?" Jack asked looking into Pitch's eyes with conflicted emotions.
Pitch made his lips thin, thinking about how the teen may react to the answer before he complied with confessing his knowledge. Pitch sighed. There was no point to not answer as it would only make the teen more upset and confused.
"About six months ago I was drawn to the screams and fear of a human. I followed it to an end coming upon your pond. I knew what the fears were before even seeing them. It was a young teenage girl with an older man. They were shuffling around while she fought to get away. The man's intent was thick in the air as well as Clara's anguish and fear. It was disgusting and vile. Took weeks to get off my tongue." The Boogeyman shook his head his face contorted into disgust.
"They couldn't see me but I know the man sensed my presence, because his fear of being caught surfaced. I don't want you to hear all the details, as I am sure you will eventually see them yourself. But I am sure it would be best to give you the sum of what happened. He battered her, but she wouldn't be still or quiet determined to get away. To not let it happen this time. He forced her head under water until he believed her to be drowned and then took her the way he wanted. When he was done he kicked her back into the water. When she stirred once again he successfully drowned her the second time." His voice was quiet.
Pitch looked away to a dark corner before continuing. "I was enraged that I could do nothing to stop it. I intensified the man's fear and anxieties and he ran to the safety of his home. I assure you he found no comfort." Malice began to drip from the Boogeyman's voice.
"I plagued his dreams with nightmares every time he slept, and I slowly took everything from him that I could. Sanity. Sleep. Peace. Any sense of comfort. When his son wandered into my cave with his friend… Well that was just a pleasing coincidence. That boy was full of potential of being just like his piece of trash father. Already cruel and vile. When I took him that was the end of all the sanity that man had left. Trying to cover all the evidence of his guilt he was caught. Prison inmates served him the bigger judgment in his end." Pitch's hands were gripped into fists at the end so tight his knuckles were white.
They stayed in silence for a long while. Jack shocked and trying to absorb the information, and Pitch silently thinking waiting for his young lover to say something. Finally the young guardian spoke ready to ask some questions.
"What do you mean by taking his son?" Jack questioned quietly.
The Boogeyman already knew he would ask that, and that was something he hoped that the teen wouldn't begrudge him. He told Jack about the boys wandering into his cave, and what happened. Jack sat and listened with his eyes squeezed shut not wanting to listen, but knowing he had to.
