;hey guys! My goodness 80 reviews?! you're all amazing :') *virtual group hug* not much else to say so enjoy reading and leave a review!
Jack sat on the windowsill in Maeve's bedroom reading her copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone while she laid in her bed.
After she blacked out, Jack had managed to get Maeve back to the Pole with the yetis before the Dark guardians did any more harm to her. Surprisingly, the black sand wound had faded before they even left the Warren.
He looked up from the page he was reading when he heard her groan. Daughter nature hid her eyes under her hands and mumbled: "I got hit in the back and blacked out again, didn't I?" Jack chuckled and set the book down, making a reminder note to borrow it sometime.
"Yup. Your a lucky girl you haven't died yet." He smirked while walking over to Maeve while she attempted to stand up.
She rubbed her eyes and hid her face in Jack's shoulder. She had a habit of becoming unexpectedly cuddly when she's tiered. He rapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead.
"Your staying put for a while. At least till you get some rest." He told her while resting his chin on top of her head. "Then you can come back to the Pole." Maeve nodded. Guess the lack of sleep shes been getting is finally starting to catch up to her.
Maeve heard a few squeaking sounds of annoyance and Jack laughed a little.
"Oh, and this is baby tooth." He said as a little tooth fairy flew out of his hoodie pocket. "She'll stick around just incase you need help." Maeve smiled as the tooth fairy squeaked in greeting and nodded at Jack as if approving of her.
"I need to go. There's 4 guardian back at the pole who need their diapers changed." Jack said. He put a hand in front of baby tooth and quickly kissed Maeve good bye on the lips before jumping out the window and heading out to the pole.
Maeve chuckled as baby tooth squeaked at Jack while shaking her tiny fist and sat back down on her bed. "If all is the same with you, I'm going to get some sleep." She asked the tooth fairy helper. Baby tooth nodded and made herself comfortable on the top corner of Maeve's pillow.
Daughter Nature chuckled again and laid down. Maybe now she could get some finally rest.
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"Maeve..." A quiet voice woke her. "Maeve..."
"Ugh... five minutes..." She moaned rolling over. "Come now Maeve, you won't keep me waiting would you?" The voice asked.
Daughter nature opened her eyes. Instead of laying on her bed in her room she was laying on the floor of a large chamber. She scrambled up to her feet and looked around.
She was surrounded by old fashioned stair cases that would lead to only darkness. Large human-sized bird cages hung from the ceiling by even larger chains. To complete the look an uglier version of North's globe stood in the dead center of the cavern several feet below from where she was.
"Impressed?" The voice asked. "It's not Tooth Palace but I find it much more... like a home." "Can't say I feel the same way." Maeve said weakly while walking around in a circle.
"You don't have to be afraid of me, Maeve. I won't hurt you." Pitch Black walked out of the shadows holding his arms out like he wanted a hug. "Who said I was afraid of you?" Maeve said stepping away from her blood grandfather.
"Child, that is one thing I always know." Pitch said placing his hands behind his back. "Everyone's greatest fears." He stepped back into the shadows and disappeared.
"Like you for example, you fear your own past lives and that you are just another step in the ever growing list of Maeves your Mother continues to make." His voice echoed. "Thats why you see them in your reflection."
He chuckled as Daughter Nature's eyes grew wide. That had certainly gotten her attention. "What?" Maeve demanded. "How?!"
"Because you have the power over nightmare sand, child." Pitch answered simply dragging on the conversation. "Ever since my last attempt to possess you, You've seen your fears differently. Other children see fear in their nightmares..."
Maeve yelped as she dropped into a dark shadow and into a house of mirrors. Every reflection was someone different. Different clothes, different hair, different skin. All with the same brown, green, and blue swirling eyes.
"...you see it in your reflection."
"Let's not dwindle on your past. You have so many more horrifying fears to worry about now. Like how you fear your 'family' will abandon you if they figured out what you really are." Pitch continued as his voice echoed through the room.
Sudden the Daughter Natures vanished Jamie appeared instead. Victoria walked up from behind him, her wavy brown hair fixed like it always was up in a bun. Amelia ran up from behind, her chin-length light brown hair tucked back with a bow and teddy bear wearing a pink tutu in hand. And finally Lewis walked up from behind them, wearing his usual varsity jacket that he loved.
They all looked at her like she was a disgusting object and walked away.
Maeve spun around eyes wide and building up with tears as shadows engulfed her yet again.
"You fear that Jack will abandon you and leave you all alone." Pitch continued in a mocking tone. Maeve ran around in the darkness trying to find away out. She just wanted it all to end. She just wanted to get out.
"You fear the guardians will never trust you. You fear they'll abandon you as well. You fear that you'll be left alone to be decomposed back into the planet. You fear that you'll become just. like. Me."
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Baby tooth grabbed Maeve's hair and pulled again trying to wake her up.
Giving up on that idea, the tooth collector squeaked in Daughter Nature's face while kicking her cheek trying to wake her up from the nightmare she was having.
Maeve wasn't making it easy as she thrashed around in her sleep, almost wailing while chanting under her breath "Let me out! Let me out!"
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"Darkness isn't something to fear, Maeve." Pitch continued walking up behind her. He rested a hand on her shoulder causing Maeve to jump.
"Look at all I can do. Think of what we could do! With the guardians powerless and the dark nightmares we created strengthened behind us we'll be unstoppable! Hundreds falling on their knees at the mercy of our power! We could create a world made for-"
"Pitch Black?" Maeve offered quietly not looking back at him. Pitch smiled. "And Maeve Black." He said resting both hands on her shoulders.
Maeve Black. The name just sounded so wrong, it didn't seem possible to even exist.
"Besides I am your real family. Who else can you turn to?" Pitch continued. "The Bennetts? What have they done for you?" "They raised me like their own daughter!" Maeve snapped angrily whipping around to look at him.
Pitch suddenly shot out from the shadows and glared down at Daughter Nature, causing her to scramble backwards and fall onto her backside. "Blood runs thicker than roots, Maeve! Even you know that." He snapped angrily.
Maeve stared at him wordlessly, paralyzed in shock like a deer in head lights.
"Our family has been torn apart by the Man in the moon and the guardians. I didn't even know I had a daughter." He continued calming down. "The very nightmares I had to guard took over my body forcing me to only know fear and fear itself. I only learned I was a loving father a few weeks ago. The very few weeks you where found."
"H-h-how?" Maeve mumbled stupidly. What did she mean how? Why does she even care? Wait...was this... Was this another nightmare? It must be... Pitch was probably playing this out... kinda like an author writing a scene in a book.
"The man in the moon told me." He replied simply still going along with the script. "He hoped that if I knew your where my granddaughter, that maybe I'd possibly spare you."
He sniggered as if it was some big joke. "Of course, I've come up with different plans than killing or possessing you." The boogeyman turned and looked at his granddaughter. "Join me, Maeve. Together we could be unstoppable."
Maeve shook her head slowly to horrified by what she had seen to speak.
Pitch shrugged and turned his back to her. "Your choice." He said simply while walking into the shadows. "I can stop you from being decomposed. All you have to do is join me. But, bind your time."
The boogeyman stopped short and turned to look at her. "You only have a few days left." At that he stepped back into the shadows and Maeve's sight went black.