Chapter 11: These Four Walls

Jack snapped awake and panicked, wrenching himself off Pitch's lap and scrambling into the farthest corner of the room, as far as he could go in the rectangular space he could get. Pitch was there, looking at him in concern. But it only made him feel more invaded, the space was too close and he couldn't even back up more, as he squeezed himself in between two snow piles in the corner of the room.

Pitch's eyes were sad, but Jack didn't care. He glared back with hate and clutched himself closer. Pitch reached for Jack, but Jack only flinched and smacked his hand away. He bent his head and cowered in the corner, his eyes not letting down his guard as he laid a stony cold gaze on the Nightmare King.

Pitch sighed and decided it was better to let him have some space and cool down. Already the room was filling up with more frost and snow from Jack's tantrum, and it barely was contained from being an indoor blizzard. Pitch left, leaving fearlings to watch and guard Jack. Jack was so exhausted; he put up his hood and clutched his arms, curling his knees up to his chest. He looked around the room, and it was plain and clean, but the solid stone walls meant that there was no tunnelling out of there. The fearlings guarded the only entrance and exit of a small wooden door, and the bars to his little 'cage' were solid iron.

Jack could barely stay conscious, so exhausted from his fit of rage and despair, his eyes slip shut and he fell sound asleep, despite his senses telling him not to, to be on his guard. But he couldn't help himself. His tears flowed silently down his face; a tear glistened like a snowflake, falling down to splash against his hoodie like melted snow. He had told himself to stop feeling afraid, it would probably feed the nightmares who were beyond the door, and Pitch, somewhere out there in his lair. But he couldn't shut off the fear. He was worried for the Guardians, Pitch had not mentioned them, in fact he had the distinct feeling he did not like them very much. Even in his sleep, his fear was there, and he could not stop thinking about how afraid he was for them….

/

Pitch watched Jack sleep, as he had a million times before these past few weeks. But this time, Jack was not at peace with himself, he was curled up, buried in snow with only his little blue hooded head and pale bare feet exposed. His anxiety subconsciously had filled the room with more snow, adding to the pile he had fallen asleep in to blanket him almost completely. Falling asleep in a snow pile would be a death sentence for a normal human, but for Jack, it soothed him, more than anything that Pitch could ever say to him. The thick blanket of snow covered his body, and only the slight rise and fall of the snow let Pitch know that Jack was breathing. He was sleeping, but he was uncomfortable, he was frowning. Even as he slept, Pitch could feel his fear. It was numbed and dulled as compared to when it flared almost painfully when he was awake, but it was flowing out from Jack, even when he was not conscious to be afraid for the Guardians.

Pitch watched painfully, as Jack twitched, upsetting the snow blanket and causing a mini avalanche down his body. Even though he had control of the Nightmares, and specifically prevented them from not invading Jack's sleep, it seemed he didn't need that, but created his own bad dreams. Pitch bent down, and stroked Jack's head gently, feeling his cool hair under his hood… He hadn't wanted this; he wanted Jack to be happy. He knew it would take time; the boy would need time to adjust, to see things his way. Given the space, he eventually would see things his way. But for now, he wanted to soothe his anguish. Pitch took the bottle of dream sand from his robes, its glow lighting Jack's pale sleeping face. He unfastened it, and carefully tipped a small stream of sand unto Jack's head. He couldn't touch it, as his touch would only create a Nightmare, and so he let the sand do its work. Slowly, Jack's expression softened and relaxed, his dreams calming him and comforting. Pitch saw golden dolphins swimming and playing, he saw Jack flying over them, laughing so care freely, the way things had been before.

/

Bunny was trying to pick the locks on the cell doors with a sharp stick he had found in the corner of the room. He tried to hide it from the fearlings, but they were more intelligent than they seemed. They snarled and snapped at Bunny's paw, nearly taking it off. Bunny yelped and dropped the stick, which they scooped up with their paws and threw it away. Bunny leaned against the bars dejectedly, but was not ready to give up just yet

'I wonder how the snowflake is doing… I hope Pitch isn't out there somewhere torturing the poor bugger…' Bunny said, his voice echoing off the rocks in the cavern. Despite his crusty exterior, he did care for Jack; he just didn't like to show it. In truth he was worried for him. The fact that Pitch had singled him out, and he wasn't here imprisoned with them. It was on all of the Guardians' minds.

Tooth was thinking, her mind racing. She couldn't stop thinking about the way Pitch had behaved. His behaviour throughout this entire ordeal was different from the usual kind. He did not have any reason to spare them. He had them right where he wanted them, he could just kill them. And the way he had spoken of Jack was different too. Had Jack really been right about Pitch being different?

'He won't hurt Jack…' Tooth said, idly fidgeting on the bars of her cell, her eyes unfocused and glassy as she thought over everything

'What makes you say that Tooth?' North asked, leaning his back to the bars and peering at Tooth.

'He can kill us anytime, but he didn't. His fearlings never hurt Jack, and he said that it was because of Jack that we are alive. Technically, Jack saved us…'

'But he did almost kill Jack at the cliff and he has taken him anyway. And all that about Pitch feeling Jack's fear? Did you see how much more powerful he is? It is feeding him. I don't think he was lying about that.' Bunny reasoned.

'Maybe North's tummy was right. Our actions against Pitch might have pushed him to these measures. And it may well have been an accident.' Tooth said to the cave walls. 'I think Jack is afraid, but not for himself. I think he's afraid for us. He doesn't know if we are alive or dead. He cares enough for us to be worried about us. And that's why Pitch won't hurt us, because it will hurt Jack'

'Or maybe this is the perfect opportunity for him to extract the fear from Jack, and get even stronger.' Bunny retorted, his tone annoyed and tired.

'I believe Pitch does care for Jack. And that's why he's not hurting us right now. If not, he could just kill us and not tell Jack.' Tooth reasoned.

The Guardians were silent. Tooth was right. But how was that possible? What could they do now?

Thank you guys for your generous reviews, you guys say such lovely things. I feel appreciated ^^

Thank you for bearing with the story. For me personally, it's quite difficult to get it out and I'm not sure if you guys are enjoying it, if not for the reviews.

Don't worry. Jack doesn't give up easily. But Jack also feels very deeply, just like Pitch, just maybe not for him the way Pitch wants it.

But that's a problem we all have right? One-sided things; what a bummer

Keep reading ^^v

I might be taking longer breaks… I realise I've been updating regularly, but its getting hard to pull inspiration sometimes