I forgot to thank kshep.n7 for always helping me with my Thai – thanks you're the best! Thanx to all you guys really who've been helping me with my language proficiency. Haha and Wafflez, are you psychic? Because this track was planned from day one and you totally called it. Haha and finally thanx always for all your responses guys! Now this chapter was a tough cookie. I had to study certain actors at their worst and certain characters at their best but it was so much fun. (: Get ready.

"You may have my number. You can take my name. But you'll never have my heart."

Iiiiiiiiiiiinnnng...

"na!...I'ana!"

Wales penthouse, 4:44 am

His chest was in pain and he could barely see through his tinnitus, but Jack rushed forward and grabbed Tooth from behind.

His heart stopped when he lost sight of her in the smoke but he trusted his senses and shot forward.

"NO! HELP!" she screamed but he grabbed her other wrist.

"No, it's me!"

"J-Jack?!" she coughed violently.

Jack felt her spin in the fumes to face him and she suddenly tried to reach for his belt.

"Give me my–"

"What're you d–"

"SHE'S G–" But Tooth began to cough again and she wheezed out a painful gasp as the smoke inhalation threatened to turn her vision black. Jack caught her forearms when she stumbled forward.

"No!" he cried and looked through the black smoke and hot fire. His chest began to tighten and the more she coughed, the harder it was for him to control his own breathing.

"Bend down!" he barked and she leaned forward, crouching slightly as he guided her to the closest wall in sight. Once there, Jack let go her of her briefly and flexed both of his fingers anxiously.

"Where's the wind?" he muttered desperately striking his pale digits against the dark smoke and clenching his jaw tight. He rubbed a watery eye, biting back the sting under his contacts and growled loudly.

"Where is it?!"

"Ja...Jack!" she cried and tried to reach for the arm of his dark tuxedo but Jack pushed it away gently.

"Stay down!" he barked and pulled off his bowtie and unbuttoned the top of his white dress shirt to breathe easier.

Then, he felt it – a weak, downward torrent of cool air rushing in from the right!

Jack quickly caught it and lifted it up. His skin prickled with energy and with a slight cough he used his center gene and called the wind.

The wind wrapped around his palm like a glove, growing faster and stronger as he shut his eyes. He thought of nothing but protecting Toothiana and where Tiana might be...then he lifted his snapped his fingers to the right.

He felt (more than saw) the north wind move east and as it did, he pulled out both his and Tooth's rifle and shot them in the direction of the wind's path. The bullets shattered the windows and with the force of the wind, the smoke rushed through the open windows and away from the spy and the princess.

The wind inside the room whipped their hair and took the smoke-laced breath from their lungs.

Jack watched through burning eyes and a pounding head as the room became clearer and the air better to breathe. The fire however was still strong and licking all the furniture so they couldn't stay in the waiting room for t–

"Aahnn!"

Jack spun.

"Get away from the door!"

He panicked and rushed to her as Tooth ripped her hand away from the red hot doorknob leading back the main living room. It didn't budge, and they both heard the ELFs outside were screaming and moving around loudly.

Toothiana instantly curled her right hand into her chest and squeezed her eyes shut painfully as Jack re-holstering the two guns at his belt and catching her wobbly state...just as a piece of the ceiling above the door began to fall around her. When she'd avoided getting crushed by the drywall, Jack swept his eyes around the room urgently.

"Follow me!" he cried and wrapping his arms around her, Jack pushed Tooth quickly towards a door the smoke and fire didn't touch yet.

When they reached it, he didn't bother testing the doorknob.

Digging his left heel into the carpet behind him, the brunette snapped his other heel out and used the rest of his body to kick the door open near the door lock. It tore open with a powerful snap and after looking through quickly, he guided Tooth into the large washroom.

"W-Wait!" she shouted when she realized Jack wasn't following her in but he held up a hand.

"Hang on!"

Jack took out his bo-staff and after extending it, he violently whipped it against the floor-length window beside the washroom and kicked the glass away. Jack guided the wind path through it and rolled into the washroom the second the smoke rolled past him and out the open excess.

"Oof!"

He apologized quickly before getting up to slam the door shut.

Jack then rushed to the other end of the washroom wall and It was still cold in the washroom and as Tooth struggled to push herself up, Jack moved across the tiles to the washroom's windows. As he did, Tooth struggled to get up, she swallowed her wad of gum still in her mouth and clenched her jaw as sweat trickled down her neck.

Thankfully, the washroom was built of cold marble and there was still running water. Tooth used to cool her burning hand as he went to the last of the floor-length windows and shot three bullets into the glass before swinging his staff into it. When it shattered it completely, a powerful gust of high wind from the hotel's height rushed in and around them and sucked the rest of the smoke from the room.

A frigid blast of fresh air encompassed them instantly. When it died down, it was quiet enough for there to be silence.

Jack stepped boldly to the edge and leaned out over the broken window. The wind sent his chocolate bangs up into a frenzy but as he scanned the English streets below, he didn't see any sign of activity.

He glared and narrowed his sight more acutely.

"Dammit," he growled and punched the wall beside him. "They knew we were here. All of us!"

When Jack was sure that the two of them could breathe again, he sighed and ran both hands into his hair. He coughed one more time before he moved to Princess Toothiana.

"Come on," he urged and walked back to her quickly. "I think I pushed all the smoke out back there so we should leave now befo–"

But Tooth didn't respond and kept rubbing her burning hand under the ice cold water of the sink.

Jack's eyebrows shot up and he moved closer to her, hearing her constant mumbling.

"Toothiana?"

"...I-I...and they...b-but it can't...and Ti-Tiana..."

Jack reached out and touched her fingers.

"Toothiana, stop!"

"W-Why, Tiana? M-My sister, I..."

"You can stop now! STOP!" he shouted and shut the tap but when he went to reach for her wrist–

Toothie, STOP! STOP IT!

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Jack jerked away slightly as she screamed and cringed at his cold fingertips. But Jack's eyebrows shot up and he tried again.

"Toothiana!" But everywhere his fingers touched, left horrible despair trailing across her skin.

"No, let me go!"

"But we need to g–"

"L...LET ME GO!"

The sound of her anguish stopped him instantly and Jack dropped his hands from where they were trying to grip her arms.

But when he took a step back, his mouth fell open in concern.

"But T–"

The second she felt the space between them, Tooth gasped and rushed towards the wall near the sink.

It was all so much, and even though she tried to look around the room for answers to the questions that now plagued her, she couldn't find any.

And she wanted to give up.

Tooth's eyes fell on Jack's tall figure, standing against the broken window. And when she saw North's staff in his scarred hand and her rifle in his other, she pressed her back against the tiles.

Her chest started to hurt and her vision clouded red.

She growled then shot him a cold glare.

"I'm not going back out there unless someone c-can tell me what I just saw, what I just heard!" she growled then shot him a cold glare.

"Can you explain this all to me?! Hm?!" she mocked but as she shouted, her face twisted in pain. "Well, can you?!"

But Jack was lost for words and she clutched her head.

"CAN YOU?!"

"I...I can't, Toothiana!" Jack cried and threw his hands out but she leaned against the cold tiles and pressed her head against it. "I didn't know!"

"You're lying!"

"I'm NOT!"

"YOU ARE! Just like everyone I ever thought I knew!"

"BUT PRINCES–"

"NO! Just shut up, please! PLEASE!" she screamed at him. "PLE–I...I-I...I can't...I can't I–"

Tooth felt her legs give out under her and she cried painfully when all her weight collapsed and she hit the floor. As she brought her legs together weakly, she tried to cover her face from him.

"Toothiana!"

The jingle from Tooth's bracelets blocked out Jack's voice and Tooth pulled her hands away to stare at the gold bands.

With each glint from the moonlight at the broken window, she grew more sick and gritted her teeth. Every heavy piece felt like a hot brand marking her skin.

"Thank you so much for everything."

And North smiled as he watched her bundle her small form into the coat.

"It is pleasure of mine. And promise to dear friend."

"No! N-NO!"

And through blurry eyes, she angrily pulled off all the gold jewelry and tossed them onto the bathroom floor.

"W-What are doing?!"

"This isn't mine!" she sobbed as she yanked off her arm bands, the choker, the earrings. "All of this, i-it was never mine!"

Every clink the trinkets made on the tiles left a stamp on Jack's heart, watching the princess toss down everything like they'd been choking her all her life. All at once, everything she wore save for her father's chain was thrown away until finally, she yanked off the promise ring, flinging it against the wall.

"It was all for show! J...J-Just like me!"

"Toothiana, calm down. Please!"

"And Ba-Baby Tooth...0-03...Three! Why three!? WHY!"

Jack rushed forward and knelt in front of her.

He wanted to touch her, but knew every time he did, the further she'd push him away – but that didn't mean they weren't twitching beyond his control. He frowned desperately as he watched her eyes rove around the tiny washroom and go straight through him, seeing horrors that only she could see.

"I-Is that why they sent me away for eight months? S-So...they could plan all this without me? A-And steal my photos?" she cried and she desperately went for her father's chain under her dress and squeezed the tiny feathers between her fists. "All this time I thought...I thought–"

"Where were you after that TV announcement?...Why didn't you come?!"

Jack's heart piqued with fear the more she kept whispering to herself.

"How could they...H-How could they?!" Tooth heaved and her jewel-colored eyes widened when she suddenly .

"But who went into my room?! And why'd they use my photos...a-as jigsaw puzzles?!"

"Why them...why me?!" she choked and felt her fingernails draw blood from her burning hand, gazing up at Jack.

"Well then keep it in your memory. Your most precious ones are, right?"

And before he could say anything, Tooth covered her eyes with her two hands (not caring that blood smeared her forehead) and began to sob heavily.

For the first time in a long time, Toothiana couldn't stop crying and the tears rolled down her face with each weep.

"I...I-I...*sob* O-Oh my god!"

Tooth's body wracked dangerously with each cry until she had to hold her stomach but she couldn't stop herself.

"I can't!...I-I can't!"

There was a deep cut in her chest that the sobs seemed to rise up from and every time she took a breath, the pain kept reminding her of how terrible she felt until it was impossible for her to close her mouth.

It hung open as she gasped and choked and Jack felt every sting of emotion washing off her. He was almost nonexistent to her as she kept crying, wet tears streaming down her face and dripping to the floor.

"Toothiana!" he shouted. He tried to touch her hands but she flinched and kept them to her stomach, and to her face to block out his eyes.

"W-We're awful, Toothie. A...Awful! We-W'...I'm so sorry!"

"Please g-go away!"

"No, stay with me. Stay with me!"

"I c...ca'–cn't breathe," She felt like every tear was an actual part of her heart, her dreams, and her self leaking out. "It hurts! It hurts t–And I can't r-run anym...I'm tired of–"

"No, you can't be," he argued desperately. "You have to get up, Toothiana. You have to keep going!"

"No, no, no I can't I–" Tooth choked and painfully bent forward.

"TOOTHIANA!"

"No! NO! I don't...I DON'T–"

Jack finally grabbed her wrists.

"TOOTH!"

She froze...and when her mouth wouldn't close as she choked on a breath, Jack quickly lifted his hands to each side of her face.

"You gotta look at me, Tooth! Come on!" he begged and pushed one hand up into her hair. "Come on, really look at me!"

But when he saw her eyelids lift just the slightest, he gripped her golden cheek tightly.

"Tooth!"

And she opened them wider with a struggling breath. Through glassy eyes, Tooth saw his blurry face and wide eyes.

"N...NO, JA...I'm a...I'm al-a-alone again! B-Because you all...Leave me al'n!...L-Leave me a–" she coughed like she was drowning and Jack's eyes went wide with terror. He tried to ignore the sting from the smoke behind his contacts and tried to focus on her face.

"No," he shook his head. "No, Tooth, come on!"

She was at her final straw, and if he didn't get to through to her now...

...he'd lose her.

"I want...I-I want my f–"

Jack immediately shut his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Count to ten for me!" he said quickly.

"W-Why?"

"Just count to ten!"

"Why?!"

"Please Tooth, just do it!"

And her name on his lips again made her look away. She choked angrily and sniffled behind her fist.

"Okay...O-OKAY!" she cried and put a trembling hand to her chest. "O-ONE!" She almost jumped at the erratic thumping under her dress.

She whimpered behind her clenched teeth but Jack pressed his forehead more firmly against hers.

"Don't stop, Tooth. Don't stop!"

"T–...T-TWO! THR...THREE!" she cried under her breath and as she continued to count angrily, Jack moved his hands from her face.

He took off his tux and threw the coat over her shaking shoulders and guided her towards him.

"F-FOUR!"

When he was sitting up against blue-moonlit wall, Jack pulled Tooth into him and wrapped his arms around her.

"F-FIVE...SI...Si-s'x..."

He pulled her close to his chest for warmth from the high winds of the broken window but said nothing as she cried bitterly between each number. With every count, the room became less red and her breathing became easier.

"Sev'n...Ei-Eight..." Tooth opened her eyes wide when she realized where she was and her lip quivered.

Jack said nothing but gripped her tightly until she reached the end of the count. He had never done so for anyone, or at least, he couldn't remember.

"Nin-Nine..." she mumbled as the shaking began to start again.

"Te...ten."

She stopped.

A long, heavy silence followed.

Tooth desperately tried to open her mouth for more words.

When she realized why he'd done that, she squeezed her violet-pink eyes shut and felt her tears silently slip out...but she didn't lash out. Instead, she gripped him tighter while her entire body continued to shake.

Jack leaned his chin down atop her cocoa hair and gold highlights and bent his form more over her smaller self to the shield against the smoke that still floated high up to the ceiling. He cocooned her tremors and absorbed them when a choke peeked out again and when she angrily clenched her fists into Jack's tuxedo, he pressed his lips to her hair and looked out the window despondently.

"Jack, y..." Tooth whispered in shock. "You said my..."

But a brief flash of his almost-kiss on her lips flashed before his eyes and Jack shut his eyes tightly.

"What makes you happy?" he suddenly muttered into her hair.

"W-What?"

"What makes you happy?" he repeated more firmly. "Come on, tell me...It can be anything."

Anything to distract her, to pull her back, to catch her from falling.

Tooth bit her lip and looked up at his jaw before she looked down at his arms again.

"M...My people," she mumbled and swallowed a lump in her throat as her eyes tried to grow wet again. "M-My island an'...the smell of r-rain...p...passing my midterms..."

And when she chuckled pathetically to herself, he took in a hopeful breath of air. He rubbed her arms for warmth, even though it was sorta useless since his hands were always so cold.

"Keep going," he exhaled softly and let the warm puff flutter her short strands and shiver down his lungs. "What else do you like?"

"B-Birds...rainbow socks...tha-that little dot under BT's eye–" and she sighed heavily. "I like...h-how uncle Tanvir taps his head wh-when he's thinking, an-and staying up w'th m-my laptop...and when Tia and T-Tiati play double dutch...I love h-how Mr. Sanderson puffs his-s cheeks when he catches me st...stealing food...and how M...M-Minister Ty always wipes his suit e-even when it's not dirty and I...I-I..."

She shut her eyes.

"I like my life...A-And I love my family."

And a warmth that she thought was gone forever suddenly fluttered back into her chest and made her choke up.

"Jack?...J-Jack."

"You're gonna be alright, okay?" he whispered urgently over the sound his frantic heartbeat. "You're...You're gonna be fine."

Tooth hiccuped quietly and covered her mouth to stop the sound.

"Y...You sure?"

When the wind picked up, he frowned and dismissed it before he continued to look out the window.

"You just have to believe in me," he mumbled and creased his forehead worriedly as he listened for any sounds in the main room but it was still silent after the explosion.

"You have to."

And as Tooth stared into his white dress shirt, soaked from her tears, she wiped her eyes with her knuckle. She heard the brokenness in his tone and suddenly remembered his face down in the lobby when she'd screamed at him.

'He didn't know...H-He didn't know.'

"I...b...I believe you," she whispered and when she dropped her face into the crook of his neck, Jack didn't protest. When he enveloped her fully and frowned out the window, the two of them tried to blink out the wind and shadows that silhouetted on their faces.

"I'm sorry..." she muttered when she realized how much of a mess she became.

"Don't apologize, Tooth," he mumbled loudly and pressed his cheek to her hair. "Just keep fighting."

She suddenly imagined how scared Tiana must be and how she could do nothing to stop it–

"Get her in the car!"

The air was cold and the ground was hard.

"Mfhffm!"

"GET HER IN NOW!"

"Move, MOVE!"

"Mmmm!"

A sound like a van door sliding shut was heard–

"I'll fight," she repeated softly to herself and shut her eyes. "I'll fight 'till I break. 'T-Till I'm broken."

And Jack clenched his jaw.

And the prime minister nodded his head solemnly, afraid that North had told them more than he could tell himself.

He sighed and looked down at the case in his hand and squeezed it almost angrily.

"And that wasn't fake."

And Tooth blinked.

"What?"

"What I saw back there," he tread through carefully, but by the way Tooth stiffened he knew she knew. "Minister Ty, North..."

He watched as she pulled away and wiped her eyes. Tooth then glared out the window, feeling the sting of seeing the tooth box and all her pictures in it return to the forefront of her mind. She tightened her whitening knuckles further into Jack's suit.

"North b-better protect the rest of my sisters...wherever they are," she hiccuped. "Pitch's Nightmare took Tiana but I...I won't let him win. I won't."

She wanted to hate North and Mr. Sandy from the bottom of her heart – and she almost did, minutes ago. But then she remembered the relaxed look on Tiana's face when her ELF guard approached, and how North had given her money and food, how Phil and other officers were so happy to meet her. It was genuine, it had to be, Tooth didn't turn a blind eye to kindness – she felt it.

She sniffled.

"M-Minister Ty said that we...that we've been protected since b...birth, so I can't be so...so..."

Jack sighed out through his nose.

"Yeah," he agreed, "and we still need to figure why Pitch wants them, wanted you."

"H-He could be here...in Wales," she whispered nervously but Jack narrowed his eyes.

"He sends out his men, Tooth," he argued. "But that's a risk I'm willing to take too. The world is his playground, but Europe is his home."

A another heavy silence followed as both let the weight of their worlds sink on them until Jack broke his hold around her and she moved to fix herself in front of him.

And as she wiped her eyes, remembering the sink beside her, Jack looked at her, feeling that same energy, that deep bass of power that hummed between them back in the alley, come rushing back.

"Don't worry, Tooth," he said deeply and she stopped wiping her cheeks to stare.

"We'll find out about your past."

Tooth's lips stretched into a smile. "And yours, Jack."

And while it was a sad one, Jack didn't realise how much he'd been starving to see it back on her face. She looked down nervously and he felt her lift her hand over his.

But just before she got to him, he surprised her...and he grabbed hers instead. Tooth's eyes widened as she watched him gently press his scarred palm to her bleeding one. He had such a focus as his eyes squinted down to catch her skin in the light and despite her aching heart, Toothiana smiled again.

With a breath of conviction, she gently intertwined their fingers. Jack didn't shy away.

The two then did nothing and simply stared at the way their skin played against each other – a warm, golden brown with no flaws, and a smooth white so pale that the veins were visible beneath. They were poles apart and yet as they shut their eyes, feeling her tiny, warm hand slip like a glove into his large, colder one...

...Tooth remembered jumping through windows and being caught, and ears that turned red when she got too close, and Jack thought of teal dresses running away from him more times than he could count, and lips that turned up every time he did something right...

And they'd never felt stronger.

"But where do we start looking?" she finally mumbled when she opened her cerise-colored eyes again.

"I think North North told me. The place where it all began," he answered and opened his brown ones. "...I need to both go back to the States."

Tooth bent forward slightly and Jack pressed his forehead to hers again, mixing his light brown bangs solemnly into her dark ones.

"So can you stand?"

Tooth nodded as firmly as she could.

"I can...I-I need to."

And they gave each other a light squeeze.

Neither noticed as they moved to stand how the promise ring on Jack's finger and the one Tooth tossed away began to pulsate brightly – their energy trackers told Nicolas St. North that they were both together and okay.

...

When Jack pulled the washroom door wide open, both their eyebrows went up worriedly.

A thin layer of smoke still drifted throughout the room but had dissipated thanks to Jack's quick thinking – but entire room was still in near ruins. The furniture and decorative had been upturned and destroyed in the shockwave of the explosion, and black soot sprayed across the walls.

Jack moved quickly through the burning debris and Tooth mimicked his steps, making sure to step only where he did. She bit her lip when she crossed the spot where the shred of Tiana's dress had already vanished into a crumple of ash and it made her heart ache.

Jack was right. Sure, she could be mad, feel hurt but this didn't, couldn't, change the love she felt for her handmaidens. They were her sisters now more than ever, and while she wanted nothing more than to find them, she needed answers first, the answers that Pitch seemed to have long before she even knew existed.

They were almost near the door that burned her palm when Tooth stopped. She looked to her right and her fingers began to shake again.

As Jack passed the Prime Minister's body, he heard her breath hitch in her throat behind him and he turned to look at her.

"Tooth," he called softly. "You don't have to..."

But her lip quivered.

Solemnly, the princess stepped over several table legs still catching aflame in the. She leaned out over Minister Ty's corpse and exhaled shakily before she knelt down slightly and reached for his bent limbs.

Trembling all over, she sniffled as she straightened out his legs, and laid him properly on his back – nothing but the way he hugged her and his playful eye-rolls clouded her mind as she did so. Then when he was lying straight, she deftly wiped dust off his black suit and shut his eyelids, closing his fearful eyes to an eternal sleep.

Tooth clamped her mouth shut and Jack said nothing for a while before she got back up. He then turned back around to head for the door.

And after Tooth watched him pull out his staff and smash the door in, she heaved softly and spared her uncle one, last look. All she could think now was how she ended up leaving behind one disturbing mystery to follow a new one.

...

A block from Broad Street, 5:12 am

The black van slammed its door shut and Tiana banged her knees painfully against a metal grated floor.

She coughed out shakily and tried to pull her head up when someone yanked the black bag from over her head but the shadows were too thick to make out.

When she opened her mouth to scream–

"There were two girls, sir."

"Two?"

"Yes–"

Bang!

"Then why didn't you grab both?"

The sting of the gunshot, ripped through Tiana's ears and as she cried heavily, tears dripping down her cheeks, she felt a dead weight fall into her lap.

Tiana's eyes finally grew blurry as a gag slipped around lips.

...

Wales hotel, main lobby, 5:19 am

Ding!

Jack and Tooth stepped out of the elevator and into pandemonium of the lobby.

The hotel was on emergency evacuation from what they could hear past the shouts and Jack had to pull Tooth back slightly when a larger gentleman almost trampled her on his way out.

"Should we follow them?!" Tooth cried and frantically tried to push her royal necklace down into her dress. Jack nodded his head.

"I don't know," he said loudly and tried to scan past the colourful rich people making a break for the exit. After hearing the announcement of a possible bomb threat, they weren't taking chances, and Jack was pissed more than ever that his under six-foot height did nothing to help his current situation.

As he took a step forward around Tooth, someone carrying a plate of their food smacked him across the chest.

"Sorry sir!" a man cried but kept running and Jack shot him a lethal glare but he stopped short and raised an eyebrow him.

The man had a weird mask or something painted over his face.

"Did we miss a masquerade or something? And argh," he growled as he wiped the green paste from his white dress shirt. "I hate avocado!"

"C-Can you focus?!" Tooth yelped and rubbed her eye tiredly. "We ne...W-W need to leave!" She was still stressed out from all the chaos upstairs – not only had all the ELFs mysteriously vanished from the penthouse when Jack broke down the door to the main living room, but now all the people down in the lobby were being warned of a new terror approaching.

Jack gritted his teeth.

"I know, hang on," he snapped back as he began to unbutton his cuffs and began to roll them up like he always did. "Just gimme a–"

"Princess!"

Jack and Tooth snapped their heads at the sound of a female voice neither of them recognized.

Amidst the chaos, a curvy waitress with deep red hair came rushing at them through the crowd. She was agile and avoided getting hit until she landed easily in front of them without a strand of wavy hair out of place.

"There you are!" she said calmly over the screams. "Your highness, I–"

"Miss," Jack stepped toward her with a polite, yet impatient smile. "I'm really sorry to put the introductions on hold but–"

Jack stopped suddenly.

When he and Tooth got a good look at her sharp, blue eyes they knew straight away she was too calm under the kind of pressure that seemed to fall on the panicking hotel. She looked down at Tooth through her thick black glasses and discreetly, she point at her nametag.

It read "Linae, 703" – and to anyone else, the number attached wouldn't have made sense, but Jack and Tooth had their guesses instantly as she nodded her head.

"Agent Sparks of the MG female ELF division from the States," she answered him curtly and Jack's eyebrows shot up.

"Stationed by North," he said relieved and threw a small smile when she shook his hand courteously.

"Y-You're an ELF?" Tooth sputtered when the taller woman bowed to her gracefully. "I didn't see a girl in North's workshop and I'm...almost relieved to finally see one working in such a crazy–sorry! Erm, lucrative job."

And the redhead flashed a smile, catching onto Toothiana's pride, before she fell serious again.

"Yeah it's a risky business, but I'm under MG, not North. He only assigned me this task before I have to leave," she said briefly and scanned the hall before Jack and Tooth could ask her what or who MG was.

Jack squinted his eyes at her.

"Leave for what?"

"Look around the room," she swept a hand behind her and the two looked around her. They saw the chaos, running, screaming as usual – but then their eyebrows shot up when they realised something.

"Everyone...Th-They're..."

"They're all dressing in blue-green," the female ELF confirmed and shot a look at a group of other redheads handing out colourful coats and dresses for all the guests to change quickly into. But the two also noticed that the guests had blue-green face paint and feathers designed onto their faces.

"We made them all put on bird disguises for the earlier part of the party when they told us about the explosion upstairs. My girls are now calling this part 'emergency colour identification' for the guests...but it's really for you, your highness," she said and then showcased a small envelope for Jack to take. Once it was in his grip, she called over two other redheads. One immediately gave Jack an elegant feathered mask to place over his eyes, and the other expertly painted a quick blue-green-and-yellow feather design across Toothiana's forehead and just below to the bridge of her nose. When she was done in thirty seconds, she centered a long feathered piece between Tooth's pink eyes and bowed gracefully.

Linae dismissed the girls and quickly beckoned them the two to follow her.

"Now hurry! You two need to leave!"

Jack looked back at Tooth and made sure she was holding onto his arm as he let the redhead navigate them through the suddenly earth-toned flock of people. Tooth said nothing and kept a tight grip on Jack as his long strides threatened to make her trip just to keep up. She frowned against all the hysteria.

'All this...because of me. Again!' she lamented and felt the despair seep through again though nobody saw it. She bit down hard on her lip and tried hard to push down the smell of the smoke still lingering their clothes.

Once they were near the wide-open front doors, every guest, waiter, cook, escort, and possible ELF/bodyguard was flying through like swarms of bees.

The redhead halted just before they tore through. She grabbed Jack's forearm but didn't flinch at how cold his skin was.

"Blend in with the crowd, they're all heading down Broad Street," she mumbled loudly between the two of them before she looked Jack directly in the line. "Many of the stiff guys' chauffeurs are waiting to pick them up from a roundabout there so when you see it, turn left at an alley three blocks before it."

Jack lifted an eyebrow behind his cover.

"Because?"

"Well where else do you think the Chief would leave your things, Einstein?"

"In a nearby alley?" he scoffed at her sassy attitude – really, he got enough of that from one girl and she was almost the death of him. "Are you kidding me?"

"LOOK!" Tooth suddenly cried and pointed between both of them. When Jack turned, an explosion far away on another high-end street lit up the outside the hotel and several of the people screamed and ran out faster.

Agent Sparks and began to tie her hair in a ponytail before she took off her glasses.

"Shit, I have to go!" she grumbled and a second later, she snapped her fingers twice.

Tooth gasped – each time a blinding flash sparked from her glove and until immediately, a dark car with two male ELFs dressed in red uniforms honked her from the bottom steps.

"I'm coming!" she shouted urgently and began to undress out of her waitress getup – she wore a dark green uniform underneath and all Tooth could do was stare in awe. She wondered if that was why Linae's hair was so red, to match the male ELFs so well.

The girl suddenly snapped her fingers back at the other redheads handing out clothes and when they saw the flicker, they all immediately dispersed back to their other, European posts.

"Wait, that's why you're called 'Sparks'?" Tooth couldn't help but ask aloud and a corner of the woman's mouth lifted.

"Wait, are you a–" But the female ELF already turned away from the two of them, un-holstering an automatic from her hip, and pointing it down the road that Jack and Tooth needed to take.

"You better make sure she gets there," she snapped at Jack and he nodded sternly. "Oh and princess!"

Tooth looked up just in time to see a tiny case be thrown her way. When she caught it, she looked down and blinked – it was a small case of pink eyeshadow, her favorite.

She looked down at the ELF who bowed quickly.

"It suited you earlier. Merry Christmas!"

Then the young woman sprinted down the last of the steps and was gone in the car.

A second later–

BOOM!

"Oh my god!" Tooth gasped when another explosion much closer to the hotel went off again.

"Hide in the crowd!" Jack barked and she nodded before she slipped her arms into Jack's jacket and placed her new case into the tuxedo's pocket.

After he shoved the envelope into his pants pocket, Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her down the road, blending into the blue-green crowd as he did.

As they kept pushing past the people, Tooth grew more lethargic and kept gasping for air. Her legs buckled and she gritted her teeth to keep up with Jack. He noticed the struggle and looked back at her, handing her back her Taurus rifle as he did.

"You okay?" he shouted and she nodded gratefully as she reholstering her gun at her thigh. She looked through his mask and stared into his wiry, brown irises.

"Do you...Do you know why she and all the ELFs are running off?" she cried back instead but he didn't answer, too afraid of the answer.

"I think I–"

BANG! BANG!

A second later, an older woman and a young businessman dressed in blues and greens were shot in the back in front of them and they fell into the sea of screams and pounding feet.

Tooth cried out and tried to look back but Jack threw his arm over her shoulder and bent their heads.

"Don't look back!" he shouted and kept trying to move them forward. They had almost spotted her!

The people screeched and some stopped to turn back at the sounds – but when they did, they were shot point-blank in the foreheads.

"They're N...Ni..." Tooth tried to muster up but she couldn't as his voice seemed to have wrapped around her throat like a cord. Jack threw a quick glare up and behind him through the mask but–

Bang! Bang!

Two more shots went off and a scream ahead of them followed. Tooth whimpered loudly and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her feather in the center threaten to fly off.

"It's Pitch, His men! Th-They're ki'...They're killing them all for me!" she screamed in anguish but it was barely heard over the rest of the terror-filled crowd. "But he can't be here! He can't be–"

"Come on, Tooth!" he urged. "I'm right here beside you, keep moving!"

And she made a sound of agreement in her throat as her guilt and urge to apologize grew with every step and every gunshot she heard being fired at the party guests.

"Oh no!" she bit out and slipped slightly on her heels.

It was horrific as they saw the roundabout in the distance through the sea of teal and emeralds. Everyone from the hotel kept pushing forward thinking they'd find a ride and drive away to safety but the Nightmares–

"NO!" Tooth screamed.

It was an ambush!

Everyone who tried to reach for their cars was being met with a new oncoming wave of Pitch's hitmen.

Like cockroaches, the Nightmares crawled in from the dark, adjacent corners and down from rooftops. They grabbed every person they could find and the two watched as people further ahead were pulled this way and that, being searched in the crowds for the princess.

When one mysteriously appeared on Jack's left and tried to move around him, Jack discreetly ground his foot into the concrete and drove his knee forward to catch him from the side. Then when the underling stumbled, Jack let go of Tooth briefly and wrapped the man's neck in the crook of his elbow. He used his strength to twist his neck around and the two moved quickly around the body as it was immediately swallowed by the moving crowd of party guests.

"He must know you're here since his bastard took Tiana!" Jack growled and that had Toothiana's insides flare up instantly.

She tried to spin and her mouth opened on its own accord.

"WHERE'S TIA–" but Jack clamped his hand over it just as they were approaching the alley that the female agent told them to move into.

"Tooth!" Jack cried angrily as Tooth fought against his palm over her lips and he felt her tears drip onto the top of his hand.

Jack's heart was steady as a drum but his fingers were flexing wildly. More of Pitch's men would come, and it would be harder to protect her if the two of them kept stopping.

He growled angrily and before Tooth knew what was happening, his hands were spinning her around the waist and pushing her forward.

"Wait, Jack!"

"Keep going!" he barked and when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned left.

A security guard from the hotel looked down sternly at the two of them. He had two, teal feathers placed behind his ears...and showed off a red ring on his finger that was flashing faintly when it neared Jack's.

"ELF 438!" he muttered quickly and Jack nodded after a hesitant pause and moved Toothiana to him – he really didn't want to in case this was a trick...but again, his instincts were telling him to let go and trust the man.

"Take her!"

"What?!"

"Yes sir!"

Tooth looked up fearfully at the ELF as he grabbed her bicep and tugged her onward.

"Your highness, I'll take you to the lot!"

"But w–" but she couldn't finish and turned back to Jack, lifting a hand to catch his – but she missed.

"Jack!"

Tooth ended up staring into his brown eyes until the crowd swallowed them both up.

Jack stayed frozen for a second, committing her face and earlier position to memory before he ripped off his mask and dashed right. As he did, an immediate onslaught of cries was heard.

About three Nightmares had dropped down from several store awnings and were ready to charge at the unfortunate, rich guests and dignitaries but Jack narrowed his eyes.

He nimbly weaved sideways and through the crowd. When he spotted a metal pipe lying on the ground near a closed restaurant, he reached down and grabbed it. Timing it right, he twirled it energetically then threw it with a powerful swing.

It hit the leading hitmen in the side of the head and before he could recover, Jack pulled out his silencer and fired one, silent shot into his neck. Not wasting time, he rushed forward and used the wall of the store on his right to perform a quick wall climb before he brought his knee down on the second Nightmare who was still trying to raise his weapon.

"Garh!"

Once Jack landed, he turned on the balls of his feet and sprinted down the alleyway that he and Tooth were supposed to use. His skin prickled when he didn't see her or the ELF who had let take her – but he was inwardly glad. There was probably another secret way around and he didn't want all these Nightmares to find her.

...

5:51 am

Tooth's eyebrows shot up when she saw three dark shadows swoop down just where she'd been seconds ago. None had seen her...but she couldn't see Jack. When she heard a gunshot go off, she jumped out of her skin.

"J-JACK!"

"No, princess," the ELF called as she struggled to turn her back around. She was trying to stop and reach for something under her dress that he couldn't see. But they didn't have time and he quickly grabbed both her arms and pushed her forward from behind.

"He will be fine, he is not alone!" the ELF tried to reassure. "He's gonna be okay, alright?"

And Tooth shut her mouth at the familiar statement and wiped her eyes.

You're gonna be okay, alright? You're...You're gonna be fine.

She nodded and bravely picked up speed in her heels.

"O-Okay! Okay, yes, you're right!"

"We must hurry now! We must get you changed again!"

...

5:53 am

Jack pounded his shoes against the icy cement and pushed the wind behind him to speed him up. The collar of his white dress shirt billowed in the chilly air but he kept pumping forward, feeling the wind caress his exposed throat and send a surge of energy into his lungs.

As he did, he heard the low grunts and thunderous stomp of the Nightmares' boots behind him, and the screams of the evacuating hotel. But he didn't stop for anything – up ahead, he saw two car lots at the end of the alley, facing either side of a large concrete expanse.

Jack snapped his hand back and after making a quick roll sideways, he turned and faced the oncoming Nightmares and shot the two pursuing him, through their gas masks. One fell dead instantly but the other dodged it and kept going. Jack had to rush in and send a jump spin crescent kick to his chest cavity.

The Nightmare caught his foot around a cord and Jack would've tripped face-first on his landing had he not flipped forward easily with the quick reflexes he had.

Pulling the cord with him, he twisted back around and used it to choke the Nightmare around the neck before he fired another shot into his chest – then he was running again, fingers flexing and teeth clenched tightly.

But as he reached the end of the alley, he watched an ELF's body get flung onto one of the nearby cars. The other man smashed against the windshield, a Nightmare swooped down from the left rooftop and tried to hit Jack with a spiked club he swung on a cord. Jack's subconscious kicked in and he fell instantly, his blood boiling with more energy down his fingertips.

Jack gritted his teeth and maneuvered his body to twist around the new cord as it came back around. Throwing a hand to the snow covered asphalt, Jack spied a long shard of glass from the car and catching it in a swoop, he drove it into the Nightmare's vest. The man's weapon dropped in reaction, but when Jack pulled back away and clenched his hand around his cut, he immediately had to fall into the defensive to block a sudden punch combo.

The shard was still lodged in the vest, but the Nightmare didn't let up until Jack saw an opening. When he did, the brunette didn't hesitate.

Jack jumped up and caught his head between his legs. Tightening his thighs, Jack spun himself into a tight spin and twisted the Nightmare's neck as he rolled back into a stand.

He then rushed forward, intent on facing more Nightmares or spotting the ELFs with Tooth but–

CRICK!

"Argh!"

Suddenly Jack's vision was spinning and his entire body was rolling painfully across the concrete. Jack cried out painfully as his head scraped the concrete and his gun slid several feet away under a parked car.

He got curb stomped!

Coming to a stop, he heard the sound of another ELF screaming nearby before a bang! went off. The sounds of the hotel evacuees suddenly seemed to die away and a chilling silence seemed to blanket the lot.

Jack tried to find his footing but the second he rubbed his cut cheek, something grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him up. And Jack realized that holding him was a man in his forties, quicker than any cop could chase, smarter than any spy could track, and more disturbed than any criminal he'd ever come across.

"Caught you."

Pitch slammed the brunette's head against a nearby concrete wall.

Chapter's soundtrack: "Skyfall" – Adele Tooth's official song for the story.

*If you read this on Monday, don't worry, the end didn't vanish! Haha the second half has been moved to the next chapter. Why? Reasons are in the next author's note. Sorry if I made you confused! It's just for storyboard layout reasons. Nothing has changed, and Pitch is still waiting for you.