First things first. To anyone who favourited or followed or even reviewed this story, thank you sooooooo much. You have no idea how happy it makes me every time I see a notification pop up telling me so. Which is also the reason that I need to say a massive sorry for the huge wait you've had to endure. I've been severely unmotivated recently. I'm not sure why, but every time I sat down to write this story, I'd just get a total brain death and get distracted by something. But I've been writing this chapter in little chunks at a time over the past two weeks and now I think it's finally ready to be shared with you guys... I'll do shoutouts at the end 'cos I know you want to get down to reading asap! Enjoy xx

"Only one way to find out the worst case scenario, it would appear, Astrid." Pitch said. "Please make your choice now."

"Oh g- uh, I'll no- I-"

"Now, please." Pitch repeated.

"Okay!" Astrid suddenly shouted.

And she made her choice.

"The liquid nitrogen?" Pitch repeated. "How interesting. Both for you and for me."

"Astrid no!" Rapunzel cried out when Astrid hovered her hand above the frozen fog still pooling out of the bucket and across the table. "That's way too dangerous. You'll lose your hand-!"

"Rapunzel, Astrid has made her choice so please don't intervene. I'm sure she has taken all the health risks into careful consideration. Now, Gothel, assist Miss Hofferson with this please."

Gothel, who I hadn't noticed was stood right behind me, approached Pitch and then gripped Astrid's wrist tightly in her own hand, which was thickly gloved all the way up to her underarm.

"Oh wait a second. I've suddenly had a rather intriguing idea." Pitch halted Gothel before she could plunge Astrid's bare hand into the freezing bucket. "Astrid, I'm almost entirely sure that this will not kill you, so here is a challenge for you to complete. If you can make it through the sixty seconds submerged without screaming, crying, or even making a sound, I'll give you a free pass next round. You can skip your turn next round, in other words."

"What?" Astrid sounded confused and angry.

"Do you accept to partake in the challenge?" Pitch said again.

"Y-yeah whatever. But don't get your hopes up, motherfucker." She snapped, all patience and comprehension flooding out of her. "Just get on with it!"

"Gothel." Pitch strolled away and sat back down. "In three…"

Pitch placed his finger on the button above a stop clock on his placemat. "Two."

"You may want to take a deep breath." I heard Gothel whisper to Astrid.

"One."

Astrid's elbow jerked up in the air as her hand was pushed deep into the bucket, and her face screwed up. It didn't look like she was in pain from the cold though, just from the awkward position of her arm.

In fact, she wasn't reacting to the cold at all.

"How's it feel?" Jack asked. Clearly, he'd noticed her peculiarly calm body language too.

"It's… weird. Not as cold as I-" Her face immediately blanched, eyes widening. "Oh, oh god, that's- ow."

"What?" Jack questioned.

"Now it's pretty fucking cold! Ow, it's really fucking cold!" Astrid was breathing heavily through gritted teeth, and I could tell she was really trying not to scream. She wanted her free pass next round. But then, who wouldn't?

"You're twenty seconds in, Astrid." Pitch called, grinning.

"That all?" She hissed, lowering her head and staring at her lap. "Oh man, I can't feel my fingers…"

The bucket was still spilling thick silver mist but I noticed Astrid's arm - well, what was visible of it - was turning a horrible shade of blue, darkening every second I stared at it.

"W-what's happening to her arm?" I whispered to Jack, trying to keep my voice down so as not to alarm Astrid.

"Beginnings of frostbite, I think. Her skin is dying. It'll go black soon, unless she warms it up straight away… And there's not much chance of that happening right now so…" Jack trailed off, and I could tell why.

Astrid's face was contorted so violently that she seemed to be unable to even keep her eyes open, but her mouth wasn't suffering from the same issue. It was wide open in a silent scream. She was gripping her hair tightly with her free hand, as if trying to yank it out of her head and distract her from the pain in her hand.

"Astrid, I'll have to include that as a scream…" Pitch laughed.

Astrid swore loudly and then clamped her mouth shut with such force I was sure she'd broken a few teeth.

"How long is that now?" I asked Pitch.

"Thirty eight seconds gone." He announced. "I have to say, Astrid, you're doing incredibly well. How is your hand even still attached?"

"Shut up." Astrid barked, and immediately cried out. "I c-can't! Holy fuck. I can't feel my freaking arm-!"

"Fifteen seconds remaining, Astrid. Hold on or Gothel will eliminate you from the game." Pitch drawled.

"C'mon Astrid, you can do it!" Rapunzel cheered, and suddenly Astrid's eyes shot up and glared at her.

"Ten…" Pitch began to countdown. "Nine, eight, seven…"

Astrid had tears leaking down her face now, and was biting back a scream.

"Six, five, four…"

"This has to be the slowest fucking ten seconds of my life!" Astrid yelled.

"Three, two…"

Everyone silenced themselves, waiting for the inevitable end to this deadly count.

"One. Gothel, release the girl. That, Astrid, was spectacular!"

The second Astrid was let loose, she dragged her arm out of the bucket and cradled it to her stomach, hissing through her teeth and rocking in her chair.

"Jack…" I breathed. "It went black."

For it had. Starting at her elbow, the pink skin gradually began to darken to a deep red, immediately followed by dark purple, bordering on blue. Her fingertips were the only exception to this pattern. They were a startling shade of white, completely frosted over. Her entire arm, and body for that matter, was shivering violently.

"I c-c-can't f-feel my ar- my arm…" Astrid's eyes were clamped shut and her teeth chattered with every barely audible word that left her quivering lips.

"You can't feel your arm?" Pitch asked, prodding her shoulder curiously. When Astrid shook her head, he frowned. "Well, that's a shame, isn't it? This would be much more entertaining if you could feel your arm, I must say. I'm slightly disappointed."

"Bastard." I heard Jack whisper in a threatening tone. Apparently, so did Pitch.

"Mr Frost, what was that you just said?"

"I called you a bastard because that's what you are, you sadistic son of a bitch!" Jack slammed his fist down on the table. Pitch immediately smashed his own hand on top of Jack's.

"Insult my mother all you want. Do you think I care? I'm trying to help you here, aren't I? You weren't forced into this. Any of this... " He straightened up and addressed the whole table (or, the four of us who were left). "All of you… Were any of you forced to come here tonight? No. You were picked up and brought here after your official consent and several times before commencing with the evening, I gave you all the opportunity to leave and did any of you take it? No. You decided to play all the same and-"

"We never agreed to any of this shit you're making us do!" Jack snapped.

"You want to play." Pitch sneered. "You want to win. You need to win. It's the only reason you're here, isn't it? The only reason you're all here. The only reason you're still playing… is because you need to win. Because someone is counting on you. Even if they don't know it, which is most likely, since who would let someone bet their life on the result of a game? No, even though they don't know it, you do. And you know they're depending on you. That," Pitch glared right at me, "Is the only reason you keep playing."

"Wait, so we're all here because-? Oh fuck, I didn't know, I-" Jack lowered his eyes. "I thought it was just me… You're all here for somebody else?"

Nobody said anything, but an obvious mutual agreement floated among us. We were all here for the same reason. We needed to help someone close to us. For me, Dad.

"Jack, I hope I've made my point now. You are here of your free will because you want to win, there is nothing more to add-"

"But what about Merida and the others?!" Jack shouted. "Huh? What'll happen to the people they were playing for?"

I hadn't thought about that.

"They won't be receiving my charity. It's as simple as that." Pitch drawled, waltzing across to his seat at the head of the table and sinking back into it casually.

This man was completely sick. Completely psychotic. Completely deranged. Yet, here we all were, dangling our own lives and the lives of a person dear to us in his hands. I wondered who Jack was playing for. I wondered, but I didn't dare ask. It hardly seemed like the appropriate thing to do at that moment.

Tadashi had been playing for his brother and he'd won. Pitch had followed through on his promise, hadn't he? An image of my Dad still laying in the hospital bed flashed in my mind and I gripped the tablecloth hard in my fist in anger. Tadashi was the only one who sympathised with us, with me… And now he was gone. And my Dad was alone.

Wait, Dad!

I moved my hand to my trouser leg and felt the pocket. My phone was still in there! How had I forgotten? I also remembered that I'd seen two texts and a missed call from Dad. That meant he was awake… or at least, he was coherent enough to try to contact me. I needed to find a way to check those texts and maybe even call him back. No, what was I thinking? I needed to call the freaking police at this point. My Dad was in hospital. He could wait a few more hours, maybe a day at best. I needed help more than him now. How could I be subtle about using my phone in this room full of guards though?

"Rapunzel, I think it's your turn now." Pitch broke through my thoughts with his cold, harsh voice and the blonde next to me let out a shuddering breath. "The bucket or the envelope?"

I shifted my knee ever so slightly and nudged Jack under the table. He looked at me, and I quickly darted my eyes down to my lap. Then, through my trouser leg, I pressed the home button on my phone, making the screen light up for a few seconds. The green coloured wallpaper of the lock screen glowed through my trouser leg dimly and I saw that Jack's eyes suddenly widened with understanding.

Without causing any attention to be drawn, he nodded quickly to me and then looked back to Pitch, who was still staring thoughtfully at Rapunzel. She was stuttering, trying to stall her choice.

Painfully slowly, Jack moved his hand to reach under the table and gently let it rest, palm-up, on my left knee. Did he want me to give him the phone? How was I supposed to do that without anyone seeing? Even reaching into my pocket would look suspicious at this point.

Jack's hand was warm. Extremely warm for someone with a name like Frost.

I began to ease my right arm off the table. The shooting pain from my missing finger not even bothering me as I lowered it slowly down to my leg. Why the fuck did my trousers have to have zips on the pockets? This was going to be a nightmare.

Before starting the impossible task, I glanced up and saw that Astrid was staring back at me, intrigued. With a quick glance at Pitch, she mouthed, "What are you doing?"

I was about to mouth back, "Phone in pocket" when I caught Pitch's eye and quickly recoiled. I needed to wait for the right moment.

Jack's hand swivelled around and he gripped my knee gently in his hand. I took that as encouragement, but it might also have impatience. I wasn't sure.

"Rapunzel, dear? Your decision?"

I paused my quest in breaching the chasm that was my trouser pocket to listen in. Rapunzel was trembling, staring at the bucket in front of her with those huge green eyes. Her mascara was running down her face, melting into her lipstick and smearing across her cheeks.

I watched as she switched her eyes between the bucket, the black envelope, and Astrid sitting opposite, trying to decide what to do. Astrid's had was a black, broken mess. It was shrivelled and clearly no longer alive. But there was no pain, or even mild concern crossing Astrid's face. She was gritting her teeth and dealing with it.

I couldn't imagine Rapunzel being that strong.

"I- uh, I choose the envelope." She said quietly after a few seconds.

"Very interesting." Pitch smiled. "Okay, well go on then. Let's see what you've chosen…"

Rapunzel fumbled with the paper and eventually managed to hook her delicate finger under the paper flap and rip it open. She pulled out the card inside and looked at it.

"W-what does this mean?" She flipped the card over in her fingers and showed the illustration to Pitch, whose sharp face immediately curled into a harsh grin.

"My my, Rapunzel, it appears you've been let off lightly here." Pitch laughed. I examined the picture too. It was a pretty simple drawing. A single eye.

"That card requires you to have one of your eyes removed."

"How is that getting off lightly?" Astrid cried. "That's gotta be the worst one there!"

"Hush Astrid. Rapunzel has made her choice and once made, there is no return ticket, I'm afraid. Now, if you'd like to follow me, Rapunzel dear. The extraction process is quite complex so I'll require you to retreat back into a more sterile environment."

"No, you-"

I was suddenly interrupted.

My phone was ringing.

Dun dun duuuuuuunn! And that's why my phone is forever on silent or vibrate... Wow, this chapter wasn't the best, I'm not gonna lie. I did no research into what frostbite actually does. I just kinda guessed from what I've seen in films and whatnot. But poor Astrid, right? Also, did you notice the tiny bit of HiJack that's starting to happen? Did ya? x

Shoutouts...

prite: Decided on the known in the end just because I don't think Astrid would be reckless enough to put her own life in the hands of Pitch... Gotta say, I had some pretty gruesome ideas lined up for her unknown choice though.

girlmixi: You watched the movie? It's great, right?! Well, kinda sadistic and really messed up but interesting nonetheless. Thanks for the luck wishes. I hope I did well xx Thanks for sticking with me through this crappy hiatus too x

mini: I really didn't want to kill off Merida and I'm super sorry for doing it but I needed to eliminate someone and she was the ideal candidate... (aargh i'm a horrible person)

Suya: I'm not dead, don't panic. Although, these exams just might be the death of me. You're learning about liquid nitrogen? That's super awesome! Liquid nitrogen has always fascinated me. Like, how can it be so damn cold? And also why is called a liquid when it's really a gas? And oh goah, so many questions... I should probably ask my chemistry teacher. Pls do watch the movie, it's great! And flamethrowers are coming, I promise!

Zephirad: Hey friend! Thanks for reviewing again. I love hearing from you. No flamethrowers here yet, but I pinky promise to you they'll be making an appearance within the next two chapters. HiJack full force fluffiness is on the way. Good luck in your exams too and have a good vacation! Lol we call them holidays in England.

Sion: I AM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT! Thank you for your second review though. You really check every day? That was the best thing I think anyone's ever said to me about my writing. I can't believe you're that excited to hear from me. When you said that, it gave me the proper kick up the arse I needed to get this chapter finished and up for you to devour. You're one of my favourite people right now, so thank you so much. I hope you enjoy this chapter xx

THANKS YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Last week, this story officially hit 1,000 views and although only a small percentage of you give me feedback, it makes me so happy to know so many of you are eager to read my lousy writing so please keep on reviewing and reading if you'd like to hear more. Next chapter will (hopefully (apparently I'm terrible at keeping promises)) be up within the next week. Thanks so much guys xx Love you all!