Last chapter everyone! I wasn't going to post again, but I'm awake before daylight has even popped up and I decided I might as well wrap everything up here before I get on with my other jobs and fics. So this is it, the last chapter and we'll see what happens with Sarah now!
I would really like it if you reviewed, or shared the story with a friend, or anything really. Also, my other RotG fic 'The End of Summer' is coming along nicely, so check that out too if you like? (shameless plug is shameless)
Enjoy all, au'revoir.
Her body felt limp and lifeless, and though it was a struggle and a pain she managed to pull herself up by the side of the cage, leaning heavily against the bars and the mesh. She lurched sideways to grab hold of the side properly, balance herself, and the cage set to swinging side to side, leaving her feeling dizzy and sick.
"Sarah!" came a shout, and she moaned a little as Jack swooped down, hitting the side of the cage and clinging on, looking at her with the most horrified expression. She'd been left in her underwear as of late, as though Pitch knew her family would make it into his lair and he was giving her a little of her dignity back. But it left it obvious to see she had been abused, cuts and bruises littering her body, dried blood along the back of her legs, her hair limp and matted. The look in Jack's eye's was a mix of anguish and anger, and he struggled for words, left speechless and unable to utter another word to her.
"Leave," she told him, staggering to his side of the swinging cage, her dim blue eyes meeting his angry ice ones, her fingers twining through the mesh and brushing his, holding his hand as best she could in this situation. "Please, Jack, leave."
The younger teen shook his head at her, his silver hair falling into his ice blue eyes, confusion building up there, and he reached is fingers through the mesh to her, trying in vain to touch her, help her.
"I can't leave you," he told her, his voice low, "I can't... what has he done to you, Sarah?"
"Jack," she hissed, listening as the shadows around them hissed and slithered about. "You need to leave, he'll hurt you!"
"He'll hurt you if we do," the boy insisted, scooting around the cage to the door, wrestling with the handle, freezing the lock and snapping it off with sheer force. She watched, frustrated, as he wrenched the door open and looked expectantly to her, his hand outstretched.
"Come with me," he urged, and though hesitant she slowly extended her own hand, their fingers touching for a second before something caught her eye, and she jerked forward, grabbing hold of him and wrenching him inside the cage just as a nightmare ricocheted off the side where he had been, screeching as it went, and Jack instantly jumped back to the door as it galloped off, shooting a stream of ice sharps towards it, blasting it out of the air. "I've found her!" he yelled, and in a moment she saw the others come running from one of the tunnels, looking worse for wear.
She stared in shock as blood streamed from her fathers' nose, and the others looked a little worn out, but otherwise unscathed. Jack wrapped an arm around her and leapt into the air, ripping a scream from her throat as he went, and then they landed on the solid ground, and she pushed the boy away and stumbled sideways, her legs sending shooting pains through her body and she collapsed against the wall, breathing deeply as everyone looked at her in alarm, but non looked so angry as her father.
"Papa," she said quietly, knowing his temper was going to get the better of him, and she needed to tell him to keep his cool otherwise he would go charging into trouble. "Papa, don't do anything, please."
His blue eyes were fixed on her, and they were furious, he was scanning over every cut, every scratch, the copper blood covered her body, dried and crusted. Every second they were there was a second Pitch was watching them and planning an attack. They were all as good as dead if they didn't move.
"We need to leave," Tooth urged the group, dropping to her knees beside Sarah and touching her body gently, "North, she needs help, we need to get her out of here!"
"I don't think that's going to happen," came a smooth voice, far too calm and calculated, and Sarah felt her blood run like ice through her veins. She looked up and around, noticing how there seemed to be millions of yellow eyes fixed on the Guardians and the girl, and she knew they were too far outnumbered, too overwhelmed, but she also knew that they wouldn't leave her so only she was hurt, her father wouldn't leave her here, and he probably wouldn't leave until he had thoroughly throttled Pitch.
"Let them go," she whispered, closing her eyes, and in reply came a sinister chuckle only she could hear as it reverberated around her own mind, and she heard the voice of the being who had plagued her dreams when she was a child, who had tormented and tortured her since she had turned seventeen, who had made her life a living hell and her world unbearable, who revelled in her pain. After all... when your world was a nightmare, you could expect him to be there. He didn't have to say a word to her, he was going to have his way now, he was going to seek his vengeance from those two years ago when they defeated him, and she'd have to either sit here and watch the horror unfurl, or she'd have to get up and do something about it.
So she grabbed the wall behind her, focused herself and pulled herself up, staggering slightly, her muscles on fire and the need to sit back down was immense, but she ignored it, walked slowly to Bunny and took his knife from his belt, ignoring the shocked look he gave her.
"If we fight, we fight together," she said quietly, looking up at her father and maintaining eye contact with her dad and though she saw the troubled expression there, he nodded solemnly. Sarah felt very vulnerable, standing in nearly nothing, but she felt vulnerable anyway, as Pitch had such a grip on her mind...
Then everything blurred. It was a mix of noise and silence, of light and dark, ups and downs and she didn't know what was what. She was aware of things hitting her, she was aware she was hitting back. Waves of black sand after black sand, golden eyes flickering past, and she screamed out as something hit her in the chest, knocking her backwards, and she looked at the nightmare monkey, baring its teeth at her, screaming and wrapping sharp claws around her neck, and biting sharply into her arm as she swiped at it to fight it off. The pain as its teeth sunk in was incredible, and she grit her teeth and hissed as she went to hit at it again, but her body felt suddenly limp, she couldn't move her arms for some reason. She heard many cries around her then and something tore the nightmare away from her, and it disintegrated in their hands, and the person knelt down beside her, their fingers tracing slowly across the puncture wounds.
The screams stopped, everything went quiet, and she looked up at the person clutching her arm, saw those golden eyes glint back at her, and she saw something in them that shocked her to the core, made her curious... in his golden eyes she saw fear and remorse and some desperation. She felt his hand press against the fresh wound, heard him say something... a whispered apology. Then he was gone, and she saw her father slamming him into a wall, his sword pressed against Pitch's jugular.
"Papa!" the brunette yelled, adrenaline shooting through her and she managed to propel herself forward off the floor with such speed and ferocity that when she collided with her father she knocked him sideways, but she managed to twist his arm away from Pitch, managed to grab the Nightmare King by the throat herself and pin him against the wall. "Leave him alone!" she told him, her voice powerful, forceful, her eyes piercing his with more strength than anyone thought possible.
"What?" Pitch asked, shocked and astounded at her sudden mercy for him, and she tightened her grip around his throat. But her father seemed like he agreed, sharing in Pitch's confusion and he shot her a quizzical look.
"I don't want you to stoop to his level papa," she told him quietly, keeping Pitch exactly where she wanted him, but her vision was blurring a little, and she didn't understand. "You're... you're better than that."
Her stomach was turning rapidly and she heaved before she doubled over and threw up, only vomiting water in her malnourished state, and she dry heaved after that, the arms supporting her now were those of the man she'd had pinned by the throat, but he was thrown off by her father and she was pulled into his warm embrace, cradled like a babe. Sarah couldn't feel anything but excruciating pain in her arm, which was spreading rapidly through her body, fire and ice merging in her blood, burning like acid. She wanted to cry out, but all the teen could manage was the squeeze her eye closed tight, throw her head back and open her mouth in a silent scream. Her body started jerking, spasming, she moaned a little, unable to bear it and she felt panic grip at her. She could hear the Guardians arguing with Pitch who was trying to insist something, and she forced her eyes open in time to see Jack hit the Nightmare King square in the face, his fist connecting at high speed with the bastards jaw, and she felt a small smile grace her lips even through this burning pain at the crack that echoed around, the look of pain that flickered across his face, before he hit the ground and was knocked unconscious. She felt some gratitude towards Jack then, she'd have hated for her father to hit him because to her her papa had always been the cuddly giant and protector, not the attacker.
"What's happening?" she heard her father ask, his voice panicked but somewhat like a distant echo, feint and hard to reach, she felt her ears straining, and her eyes rolled back in her head leaving her unable to focus, blind...
She knew what it was. When the nightmare had bitten her like it had, it had infected her with fear. And though the pain felt intense and terrible, it also felt familiar, like something she knew and had known her whole life. It spread quickly through her body and she knew it wasn't going to end well, but there was nothing she could do now. Sarah could just about feel small, cool hands on her skin, knew it was Sandy trying to find a way to reverse this effect, to stop this, but the longer it went on the more she felt tired, the heavier her arms felt, the harder it became to breathe and think. Sand was clogging her veins, she realised with a small frown.
This was a terrible way to die.
Better than plunging into an abyss she knew nothing about though, she mused, breathing deeply through her nose as she tried to focus on her surroundings, open her eyes and look ahead. If she'd jumped over that ledge then she could well have dived right into the midst of a load of nightmares. She wouldn't have liked that, at least this way she felt she had some semblance of what was going to happen. Slowly the fear would overcome her mind and heart, entrap her soul, smother her, plunge her into a world of darkness. She didn't know if she'd come back like Pitch... she hoped not. He couldn't really remember his life before the fear, and she wanted to remember the hot chocolate her papa made for her, wanted to remember those Summers' spent in the Warren where she would escape Bunny's arms and dive head first into one of his paint ponds, climbing out moments later absolutely purple and leaving footprints and splatter patches on the green grass until the Pooka could catch her again, laughing at her. She wanted to remember how she'd found a truce with Jack, how he was kinder and lovelier than she'd ever expected, ever given him credit for. She'd rather die now with those few happy memories clutched close to her, not let the fearlings steal them away. She felt terrible for her father, who was holding her heavy and twitching body close, helpless to the situation. He was just telling her quickly and quietly how much he loved her, how he would always love her and if she held on he'd help her become stronger. How she was the best thing in his life... how he couldn't carry on without her. It formed a lump in her throat, and she wanted to tell him to be strong, that she wouldn't be gone forever, she'd always be with him. She'd promise it, but she didn't know how to. Her throat seemed to be closing, making her gasp for air. She wasn't long left for the world.
Then she blinked and the shadows were gone, the pain in her body faded to something almost euphoric, blissful...
That pinprick of light she had seen up above the cavern, that before seemed so cold and so far away was brighter, warm, tickled her skin and made her feel aglow with things she had not felt in years. It was light and happy and simple, and she basked in it while she could. The light spread around the cavern, chasing the shadows away and casting a pale glow over everything, warming the place, warming her, making her forget her troubles for just a moment as she breathed deeply.
"Sarah," came a quiet voice, and she turned her eyes to stare into icy depths, trembling as his fingers brushed her cheek and he stared into her eyes sadly, tears pricking at his. "Can- can you hear me?" Jack asked, taking hold of her hand, sending chills shooting through her fingers, numbing them.
"Ye... yes..." she whispered, her voice just above a breath.
"Fight it," he told her, gripping her hand tight, but he could tell she was too far gone to fight against the fear. Her skin had turned almost instantly white, there was no flush to her skin, and her eyes... that was the most harrowing thing to look at. Her eyes which had been a crystalline blue were now the darkest black, the whites of her eyes were terribly bloodshot, and they seemed like doors to her soul... there was nothing but darkness and fear there, and there was no going back for her, it was all too much for the girl. She'd struggled with Pitch for years, and it seemed he finally won. He couldn't let him win, couldn't allow her to lose to the monster. "Listen, don't give in," he choked, leaning in so his lips were against her cheek, his breath tickling her neck and ear. "Don't give him the satisfaction of winning."
He was surprised to hear a breathy chuckle, and he pulled away to look at her, shocked by the small smile on her face, not sure what to do.
"I've won," she told him, her voice a little louder, but more shaky. "He won't hurt me any more." Her blackened eyes turned from his face to her fathers, and for a moment she watched as great tears rolled from his eyes and hid in his beard. "He won't hurt me any more papa... it's okay. You... you'll be okay, won't you?"
North nodded, but didn't utter a word, too overwhelmed with emotion to speak. Her head dropped sideways and she looked at Jack again, and it made him start to see the black fading, the blue of her eyes trickling back into the iris' like water, forcing the darkness out.
"Take care of him?" she asked, her voice low and serious, no weakness sounded but she winced and a lone tear slipped from the corner of her eye. Jack bit his lip, nodding at her and promising he would as he reached out to cup her cheek and wipe the tear away.
"Course... can't you stay Sarah?" he asked, his voice trembling as tears threatened his eyes too. She only smiled, her eyes drooping as death weighed on her, and she shook her head gently.
"Can't... sorry Jack," she muttered, and she weakly gestured to the top of the cavern where the light was glowing, sending a bright light over them, making them all look like they were glowing. It made her smile, how what had been so dark was now light. She felt at peace. Jack looked up at the roof, the light making his eyes look almost white.
"There are dark shadows on the earth... but the lights are brighter in contrast."
Jack looked down at Sarah as she spoke, her voice ebbing away into whispers, and she breathed deeply as her eyes fluttered, the light in the blue orbs dimming, and she looked up at her father for the last time, watching as tears streamed from his matching blue eyes. With the last of her strength she reached up and touched his cheek, her fingers brushing the tears away as he heaved a sob and begged her to hold on. She smiled a little, feeling calmer and happier as her hand lowered again, no strength left to hold it up, and she felt him hold her tighter, pull her into his chest as her breath became more shallow and a lot slower, her eyes sliding shut as she slid into a deeper sense of tranquillity, feeling sleepy as she listened to the constant thudding of her fathers heart, as hers slowly faded out.