Hey guys.
I was going to post this yesterday but on Monday I recieved news that one of my teachers had died last week during half term break. I'm a bit more touchy so I thought it would be best to wait until today to post. Hope you guys enjoy, 'cause this plot is about to get hella more confusing!
Guest Reviews:
Sofie Rose: I'm very worried now. Please don't kill me!
Iloveanimals: No way. I'm way too nice to you guys. Not all my stories can be sunshine and rainbows!
Welcome to the 11th Chapter of The Ultimate Ultimatum!
Read, Review, and most of all, Enjoy!
One Week Later
Pitch cackled loudly, awakening Jack, who had fallen asleep in the corner of the layer. He felt his muscles strain. It had been two days since he had last been punished, but Pitch had made sure it had left an impression. His body was stiff with dried blood and his head throbbed. He was just glad Pitch had let him sleep it off.
That had confused Jack. For the first one or two days, Pitch had snapped at him for every mistake, giving him bruise after cut after burn after broken bone. Then when Jack became more obedient, he had backed down. Praised the boy when he did something well. If he messed up in a small way, he would be admonished gently. It was only if he mucked up seriously, that he received the punishments. Jack had constantly told himself to watch out, that Pitch was trying to earn his trust to use him. But after what had happened the day after he gave himself to Pitch, he couldn't help but trust the spirit slightly.
They made it to an underworld entrance, the one via Tainaron, and Pitch put a hand out to stop Jack. Jack just kept looking down at the cloak he wore, hiding his tattered hoodie from sight. It was an inky black, and had a silky feel to it. "You cannot say or do anything without my permission." Pitch ordered in a low voice. "Is that understood?" Keeping his head down, Jack nodded, ever so slighty.
There was a growl which made Jack look up, only to be face to face with a giant dog. With three heads. "Cerberus." He whispered, though whether it was in fear or awe, he didn't know. Unconsciously, he lifted his hand to pet it. Pitch quickly pushed him back just before the giant dog bite his hand off.
"Hades!" Pitch called, never taking his eyes off of the dog. "Control your mangy poodle!"
Jack saw a figure, hidden by the entrance, arrive. "Heel, Cerberus!" Commanded the figure with a tone of boredom.
What happened next was a flash of memories for the depowered Winter Spirit.
There was a snarl and two panicked exclamations. Jack stood there as Cerberus pounced towards him. Instinct told him to flee, but he didn't want to, for fear Pitch would punish him for not listening. By punish him, he meant hurt the Guardians. He was with Pitch to keep them from harm, not to thrust them into harms way.
Just before the huge dog reached him, someone pushed him to the ground. The albino looked up and saw Pitch just barely manage to make a shield to protect him. Once the dog hit it, Pitch let the shield fall. Then with a careless flick, he put Cerberus into a Nightmare filled sleep, seething.
He kneeled down next to Jack, who whimpered at the close death experience. "Are you alright, Pet?" Jack shook his head, groaning at the pain it caused. Pitch became angry. "Why didn't you move out of the way? You could've been extremely injured. Or worse."
Jack answered in a small voice. "You told me not to say or do anything unless you told me."
"I wouldn't have said anything if you were trying to save yourself." Pitch sighed, seemingly in annoyance. "Can you stand?" The Nightmare King asked, aware that he had pushed Jack VERY hard.
In answer, Jack made to stand, leaning heavily against a rock. Pitch took him by the hand and together they walked up to Hades.
"I apologise for that." Hades said, sounding upset. He was still hidden in the shadows of the Underworld entrance, but his dark blue eyes looked towards Jack. "Are you alright, boy?"
Jack looked to Pitch, who gave him a curt nod in permission. "I'm fine, Sir." Jack answered quietly, averting his gaze.
The blue eyes looked at Pitch. "You were right. He's more obedient than others I have seen." Hades backed up and walked through the entrance. "Come."
As they walked through, Jack's breath quickened dangerously. Had circumstances been different, his soul would currently be flying through here, leaving his body behind. Hearing his Fears, Pitch squeezed his hand reassuringly.
After that, Jack had been in and out of consciousness. Pitch had let him sleep and he was slowly getting better with each minute he slept. He had been sleeping until he heard Pitch started laughing victoriously at something. Feeling disgruntled, the young, Winter Spirit peeked up and saw Pitch looking at a swirling vortex made of Nightmare Sand.
"I can't believe it worked! That's one of the four down!" There was a small shuffling noise that caught Pitch's attention. He turned and noticed Jack looking timidly towards him. "Pet, come here." While it seemed to be said with a tone of kindness, Jack heard the underlying malice in the command. Jack quickly got to his feet and shuffled towards Pitch, who grabbed him by the hoodie and pulled him close when he was within arms reach. "I have something to show you. Concerning your precious Guardians."
Jack, who had been staring at his feet, immediately snapped to attention. "The Guardians?" He asked before he could stop himself. Despite it being only over a week since he had swapped himself for the Guardians, Jack missed them terribly and for someone hell bent on revenge, Pitch left no clue to their well being anywhere.
"Yes. Take a look." Jack looked into the swirling vortex and saw Tooth calming a convulsing Aster while Sandy tried to free North from the nightmare he was under. Both were failing miserably. After a moment, they exchanged some words and swapped. North soon woke up and Bunny fell asleep calmly. Tooth and Sandy shared relived looks before the image faded into the mass of Nightmare Sand. Jack turned to Pitch angrily. His current predicament, forgotten.
"You promised! If I stayed here and obeyed you, you wouldn't hurt them!"
"Giving them Nightmares doesn't classify as hurting them." Stated Pitch.
"What about what was happening to Bunny!?" Jack yelled, fury lighting up his eyes.
"I did that before you decided to show up." Pitch replied evenly. His eyes, however, betrayed his growing anger. They flickered like fire in the Wind. Thrashing and spreading and growing. "End of discussion."
"Bu-"
"END OF DISCUSSION!" Pitch bellowed. Jack was so startled, he fell to the ground. Looking through his snowy white bangs he saw Pitch kneel beside him. The Nightmare King stroked his cheek, making him shiver at the touch. "And you were doing so well, Pet. You had managed two days." Pitch purred, moving to stroke Jack's head.
"It won't happen again." Jack said fearfully. "I swear. Don't hurt them." Pitch just ignored the worried pleas and, channeling his powers, he poured some old magic into the Winter Teen's mind.
Jack's mind suddenly became hazy.
It was gone as soon as it happened. He blinked confused, and tried to recall what Pitch had been talking about. But he couldn't remember anything
"Do you know who this is, Pet?" Pitch asked, indicating to the swirling mass, which showed Sandy.
"No, Master. Should I?" The moment the words had fallen from his mouth, he clapped his hands over it. "What just happened?" He asked himself in horror. "What did you do to me!?" He screamed, scrambling to get away. He looked back to the image which was still in the vortex.
'That's Sandy. The Sandman. Guardian of Dreams.' Jack continued to repeat this in his head. He found that no matter how many times he mentally repeated it, he forgot one thing or another. He became even more worried and tried to stay away from Pitch as he recited the information on his friend. 'The picture is of Sandy. He's the Sandman. The Guardian of..of..oh what was it!? Dreams! Guardian of Dreams.'
Pitch heard the boy's Fear echoing through his head, pounding against the walls of the room. It was like a glass of a fine wine. Pitch drank it up eagerly, happily listening to the silent, fearful screams.
'Why am I forgetting? What if it's a sign the Guardians are forgetting me? I don't wanna forget! I want to go home! I want my family! I don't want them to forget me! I don't want to forget them! What if I forget everything, like I did when MiM turned me into Jack Frost!?'
Despite the fantastic waves of fear that rolled off of the young Winter Spirit, Pitch knew he shouldn't exhaust the boy. He walked up behind Jack when said spirit grabbed his head in his frenzy. "Go to sleep, Pet." Pitch told him, sprinkling a weaker version of his Nightmare Sand over Jack. The young boy collapsed in his arms, his sleep, dreamless. Pitch chuckled at the boy in his arms. He was completely still. "Poor, unsuspecting boy. That was only the beginning of it. Within two weeks, you will have completely forgotten them. Then I can finally can exact my revenge and get to keep you. Oh, this is so much better than what I had originally planned!"
After pouring a bit more old magic into the boy's head, he took Jack to his room and lay him on the bed. He then summoned the pieces of Jack's staff, piecing them together to make a quarter of the staff in total. He had been doing his for two days and Jack was none the wiser. For even though he was connected to the staff, the constant worry and fear, as well as the spell Pitch had been performing on him, was enough to weaken his mind.
Pitch grinned before he lay down himself. Even though he didn't need as much sleep as a spirit as young as Jack, he did need to rest on occasion. He stroked Jack's hair, whispering. "I cannot thank you enough, Pet. I know you're still loyal to those fools but give me two weeks, and I will have fixed that problem." He turned and was ready to drift off, when he felt skinny arms wrap around his waist. He looked back at the sleeping albino, and smirked. He slept, blissfully unaware of his surroundings or his actions. Images of the Guardians horrified faces filled Pitch's mind. He chuckled and fell asleep, all the sweet ways he could serve his revenge filling his mind.