I'm not sure if I should like this chapter or if I just delete it and... *sighs* well, I hope you guys like it. It's a new arc that just popped up on my head and I couldn't help but write it. Now, if you guys don't enjoy mild torture, disgusting creatures, blood and etc. or if you're just scared of things like the ones that show up in Resident Evil and horror games sometimes, I suggest you NOT to read this arc. I'll be posting a softer chapter later today, after I wake up.

Thank you for your sweet reviews and follows/favorites. You guys make me so happy all the time! I love you guys!

PlaidOtaku: Bunny had already gotten a chapter ;v; b-but I'll try to write a better one for you!

Skypeoplephoenix732: thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter! Pitch was so mad and worried, the poor guy! And yes, Tooth's my least favorite Guardian (sorry Tooth) and it's always hard to write her ;v; i'm just glad you liked it!

If you have any request, let me know!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.

Summary: Jack gets kidnapped by an old enemy.
(warnings: blood; mentions of torture; horror; disgusting creatures)

25. Horrified

Pain shot through his entire being, forcing him to jolt awake. He felt dizzy, sick and he couldn't remember what had happened, the memories and images too messy, too mixed in his mind for him to think properly for more than a second. A throbbing headache elicited a whimper from his lips and he decided to move, ready to grab his staff and fly right to Pitch because the older spirit always had the answers and he'd know exactly what had happened...

And then he noticed something really important about his situation.

He was tied up, hanging from the ceiling by his wrists, his feet barely touching the floor under him. He thrashed around in a childish attempt to break free, but the chains binding him barely moved an inch, burning the cool fresh of his wrists every time he moved. Blue eyes looked around as much as he could, yet his staff was nowhere to be seen. The room was empty, warm and just too bright. He wasn't home. He wasn't at any of the Guardians' place. He had no idea where he was and couldn't even try to remember how he ended up there without having a terrible headache.

That was it. Jack Frost was officially in big troubles.

A sickening laughter filled the room, and in the moment he recognized it he felt the urge to throw up.
He should've known Ponos was the one behind it since the very beginning.

And then the disgusting spirit got just too close, sharp and razor-like nails grabbing his sides, and the winter child backed away as much as his bounded wrists allowed, ignoring the throbbing pain growing on his body quickly.

"Wh't a 'ay to.. behav'." The gurgling sound that sometimes resembled a horrifying voice made the boy shiver. "Why did h'.. deci'ed t..o kee' ya.."

"Guess he prefers a more good-looking company than you. Did you try to look even uglier than last time we met? 'Cause you surely accomplished it."

The harsh, sudden slap made Jack recoil in pain and overwhelming fear, the images of their last encounter still too fresh on his mind to be ignored right now. He felt blood escape the cut on his broken lip and Ponos laughed once more. She looked bigger, uglier than before and it was a terrible realization for he knew that it only meant she had become stronger. The creature had been beautiful once, Pitch had said, a mortal, arrogant woman that traded her soul in exchange of eternal beauty. She had been tricked and fell on disgrace, turning into that terrible monster, marred by centuries of pain and torture.

Her body was something disgusting and sickening, a mix of rotten flesh and blood and old corruption that dripped from her wobbly form here and there. Her face was just an amount of more rotten, tortured skin all sewn in a cracked skull, her once beautiful hair as dark as night pulled out here and there, eyes nothing more than empty socks with a glittering red shining in the depths of them. Every time she laughed, what was supposed to be a mouth would shatter open, her jaw distangled from the rest of her face, and show a couple of broken, bleeding teeth and a missing tongue. Her nails were like sharpened razors, and whatever else he could call 'skin' had been destroyed by burnts and cuts.

"I take it back. You look absolutely gorgeous today. Are you trying a new haircut or something-"

A blinding pain bubbled on the top of his stomach and the winter child didn't even try to supress the loud scream that escaped his lips, too focused on the burning agony to pay attention to Ponos' delighted laugh.

Something was just wrong.
Something was really, really wrong.

The sudden realization hit him as hard as the previous slap, and he felt his eyes widening in shock and terror as he thrashed around once more, panicking, horrified and lost.

There were no shadows in that room. No shadows meant no Pitch coming to rescue him like last time.
His staff was nowhere to be seen or touched. No staff meant he was powerless and helpless.

Oh boy. He was so dead.

"Ya 'anna..mee' my 'ew.. fr'end..?" Ponos gurgled, spitting blood down her jaw and neck as if it was really necessary. It was always a surprise to see there were some parts of her that weren't covered in blood yet. Even so, he tried to focus on the new problem as she pulled something viscous and oil-like from some... part of her wrecked body. He made a disgusted noise and turned his face away, but sharp nails grabbed his chins and forced him to look at the sticky thing moving almost helplessly on Ponos' hand. "So.. 'ute... ya.. 'hink?"

He had a really different opinion about the little creature moving restlessly, hissing. It looked like a small blind serpent, its body dark and viscous, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand.

"Ya 'now... th'y can.. caus'... a pain bey'nd... imag'na..tion.." Jack took a moment to really comprehend whatever Ponos was babbling about, and when the words finally made some sense to him, a shiver shook all his body. "Yo'r pain.. ha'e alwa's been... 'he mos'... d'licious..."

The next thing he knew was the purest pain he had ever felt in his entire life exploding through every inch of his body, shattering every piece of his soul, pushing away every feeling of fear and disbelief that had been swirling around. There was nothing but the pain, pure and raw, breaking and twisting him from the depths of his spirit.

He was beyond dead, and this time there was no way out.

Thank you for reading!
See ya~