As North picks up Jack's limp form Mysterie watches in silence as the elder Guardian moved down stairs. The trip was to a room that she hadn't seen before mostly because it was locked by magic and she really hadn't spent time exploring the lower levels of this place yet; not that she'd had time to do much exploring. Although it was a strange thing, even in her mind, she couldn't help but be reminded of a song she'd once heard in her youth. It was a good song really and as it played in her mind she couldn't help but think that it really should be reversed...

Boy: Good little girl, always picking a fight with me.

You know that I'm bad, but you're spending the night with me.

What do you want from my world? You're a good little girl.

Girl: Bad little boy, that's what you're acting like.

I really don't buy that you're that kind of guy.

And if you are… why do you want to hang out with me?

Boy: Don't you know I'm a villain?

Every night I'm out killin', sendin' everyone runnin' like children.

I know why you're mad at me.

I've got demon eyes and they're lookin' right through your anatomy, into your deepest fears.

Baby, I'm not from here. I'm from the Nightosphere.

To me you're clear, transparent. You've got a thing for me girl. It's apparent.

Background: OH OH! I got a hot potata! And I got two hot tomata's!

That make a good sauce maybe, so I'll shake my bottle baby.

I'll shake it and shake it and shake it and shake it and shake it all over.

Girl: You know you're not so bad.

Marshall Lee: Not so bad? I'm the son of a demon and the vampire king...

That's not something I have to try at.

You on the other hand...

Background: ... The table! For as long as I am able.

Girl:I'm not trying to be bad. I'm hanging out with you because you're my friend.

Boy: What, like him?

Girl: No, different

Boy: Did you think I was lying?

I said I'm evil without even trying

Already dead so I'm not scared of dying

Drinking the red from your heart in one sitting

You think you've got me pegged

You must be kidding

I raise the dead up and they do my bidding

Girl, I'm a thousand years old

I'm a riddle

Bad little boy

Yes I'm bad,

But I'm not little

As amusing as the song was... well, Jack wouldn't fit the part of the boy at all... no, that role went to her. In fact... her mind, perhaps because of the stress of what they were about to do and all she had to deal with recently, began to rearrange the song so that it fit them a little better... It had been a hobby of hers, when she'd been alive, to put music to things in her life and sometimes to the stories she'd indulged in... She really needed to finish some of the stories she'd left behind... at least for the sake of those who read her work; sparse as it was. None of the others noticed, as they followed North down the stairs, that she was softly humming the tune while reworking the song to come up with the following:

Girl: Good little boy, always following right behind me.

You that I'm bad, but you're spending the night with me.

What do you want from my world?

You're a good little boy.

Boy: Bad little girl, that's what you say you are.

I really don't buy that you're that kind of girl.

And if you are... why do want to hang out with me?

Girl: Don't you know to the world I'm a villain?

Every time I go out, they scream and run away like

children.

I know why you're made at me.

I can feel it in you, as if I could look right through your

anatomy, into your deepest fears.

Don't you know, baby, I'm not from around here?

To me you're clear, transparent even.

You've got a thing for me boy.

It's apparent.

Background: I gotta hot potato and two tomatoes!

That make a goo sauce, so I'll shake my bottle baby.

I'll shake it and shake it and shake it and shake it and shake it all over

Boy: You know, you're not so bad.

Girl: Not so bad? I'm a mortal whose powers are both dark and light.

It's not something I have to try hard at. You on the other hand...

Background: ... the table! For as long as I'm able.

Boy: I'm not trying to be bad. I'm hanging out with you because you're my friend.

Girl: What, like him?

Boy: No, different.

Girl: Did you think I was lying?

I said I could be evil, without even trying

Now that I'm dead, I'm not scared of dying

Drinking in all the world has to offer

You think you've got me pegged

You must be joking

I raise nightmares up and they do my bidding

Boy, my soul is like a storm cloud

I'm a riddle

Bad little girl

Yes I'm bad,

But I'm not little

The room North led them to had almost nothing in it save for a chair with chains on it that he'd prepared in advance in the middle of a big circle with the signs of the Guardians around it and a symbol of power and purity. North made sure Jack was as comfortable as possible. Sandy lit the candles that each represented them, four candles in all, before handing a goblet to Mysterie, it held the ingredients. Sandy's symbols flashed slowly so that she could read them, she wasn't fluent with his speech but she understood him well enough.

Give Jack the ingredients. It won't work if he doesn't drink it. Bunny sat by the symbol of a tulip, North had taken up position by the symbol of a present, Tooth by a symbol of a Tooth and Sandy grabbed the spell book before he took up his position by the symbol of a cloud with swirls of sand in it. Mysterie looked at the cup a moment before moving over to Jack's still form and with her free hand she gently tipped his head back, working with infinite care to open his mouth and pour the liquid into his mouth; lightly stroking his throat to encourage the reflex to swallow. She only stepped back to stand outside the circle once the goblet was empty. She looked over to North, waiting to see what needed to happen next. She set the goblet out of the way, against a wall; never really taking her eyes off the group. The lights in the room went out, leaving only the candles to dimly light the room as Sandy's sand wrote the words from the book:

Cleanse the wicked one

Find the light to brighten his soul

Clean the one that is shadow from her heart

They repeated the words, making a chant of it and Jack stirred as pain shot through him. Jack struggled, breathing heavily as pain lanced through him. He only wanted it to go away, but the others only continued the chant they had began, drawing the words out and increasing the volume of it. Mysterie stood just watching and waiting; unable to do anything more. Jack groaned in pain as the dark shadows seemed to be sucked out of him.

"S-stop... it hurts!" He whimpered as the pain intensified. He growled as Jakul was slowly pulled out along with the shadows of desire.

"NO! STOP IT!" Jack cried out.

"STOP!" Despite his cries, the Guardians didn't stop the chant they'd taken up. Mysterie bit her lip a little, watching; the sound of his whimper of pain sent a chill through her. Jack growled as the darkness slid up along the chains, the metal strains to keep him there but there is a deafening snap and the chains fall away; his eyes were pools of black as the shadows surrounded him. Jack ran forward, his eyes bright with the desire to kill only to smack into a field of protection that the circle provided. Sandy pulled Mysterie away from the field, his sand writing quickly even as he keeps up the chant.

It is for his own good. Do not worry, he can't break free of the protection because his evil is being pulled out of him as we speak.

Jack roared in frustration, trying to get away from the pain.

"LET ME OUT! PLEASE SANDMAN! GUYS STOP!" Jack cried, but he no longer sounded like the Jack they knew and cared about as he yelled threats of killing and other deadly promises as he fell to the ground, curling up in a ball of pain as a shadowed figure with red eyes was forced from Jack, but it wasn't fully leaving. Instead it still had one foot firmly planted in Jack, it laughed darkly as the Guardians ended their chanting prayer and gasped, seeing that it hadn't worked like they had hoped. It had only gotten rid of half of the darkness inside Jack.

'WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Bunny cried, the figure turned towards the Pooka, showing sharp fangs, an evil slaughter smile on its face as it shook its finger at all of them as if to say "no, no; he's mine." Mysterie didn't answer Bunny's question, but she knew; she met the figure's gaze.

"Not this time..." She moved forward into the circle, slipping past the protective barrier; she had no idea what she was doing, but she felt compelled to do this... whatever "this" was. The darkness within her reached out a hand from her body towards the other, even as she reached for it. Mysterie took hold of the dark figure and pulled. The figure screeched in pain, grasping at some of Jack's energy to try and hold its grip on Jack who groaned in pain, turning on his side, away from the figure; trying to escape the dark leech but it didn't let go and Jack's breath hitched as she pulled harder and Jack struggled against the pulling, more really against the pain it was causing. She closed her eyes, the darkness within reaching further out and severing the ties to Jack. With the last one the darkness lets out a shrieking laughter as it latches onto Mysterie and she jolts, as if struck, before collapsing in the circle. Jack gasped for air as if he'd surfaced from a pool of water, he looked around with eyes wide with fear. When his gaze landed on Mysterie he dragged himself to her.

"M-mysterie..." He shifted her head onto his lap, lightly stroking her hair.

"I'm so sorry." Tears welled up in his eyes as Sandy moved forward, patting the winter spirit on the back. Bunny sits back, staring in shock and sympathy while North and Tooth each give Jack a hug.

"It will be okay." The Guardian of Wonder murmured, though there was no way he could be certain if it would be; hadn't she lost control of her own darkness several times since she'd become a spirit? How much worse would it be now that she had the burden of Jack's darkness within her? The group had to admit that they had misjudged her heart; if it hadn't been obvious before, it was now that she loved Jack beyond reasonable doubt and that love was pure.