A/N: Chapter 49: They Hurt You Part 3

You guys wanted to see the end of the arc, so here it is :) Sorry I skipped over the battle. I'm very tired... zzzzz

Anyway, I'm feeling slightly more awake now than I did five seconds ago, so I'm going to post this and hope for the best! Also, I hit 100 reviews! What do you suggest I do to celebrate? Eat a chocolate bar bigger than my head? Dance naked around the full moon? (Just kidding...!) Speak for an entire day in RotG quotes only? Start a new arc? Reply with a suggestion if you like and also, don't forget to drop by my profile and vote on my poll! Also, if there is anything you'd like to see here, be sure to drop a review telling me what it is and I'll try to get back to you! But I don't take slash, fem slash, fem!Jack (or any other male characters - or male!Tooth or something...no gender flips!) and I don't do anything that would bring this rating above a T.


The victory was bittersweet.

"They hurt you," Pitch whispered after the battle, putting a gentle hand on Jack's shoulder. "They hurt you, Jack. They deserved this."

Jack tightened his lips and slung his staff over his shoulder. Time for another round of pretending. It was lucky he was good at hiding his emotions.

"Now," Pitch whispered, "now they're lying at our feet. This…Jack, this is what we always dreamed of! This…this…is what we always wanted! Look around you at the world! Doesn't it look different?"

Yes, indeed, it did look different. A strange kind of blackness was spreading over everything, so thick and dark it seemed to even have dimmed the moon.

Pitch danced excitedly around the deserted street, spotting Jamie's abandoned stuffed rabbit on the side of the road. He picked it up and carelessly ripped its head off, the stuffing coming out of its neck, looking strangely lopsided.

Pitch smiled grimly. "This," he hissed, tossing the rabbit's body and head back down, into a gutter filled with dirty snow, "this is what all our enemies will look like when we're through with them."

Jack swallowed, watching the white and gray mush wash over the animal.

I should not have done this.

I should not have done this.

But they hurt you.

That doesn't matter!

HE STRANGLED YOU.

He didn't mean—

HE WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU, JACK.

The warring voices fought inside his head as Jack gazed sadly down at the bodies of the fallen Guardians. Well, said something else, a voice filled with regret in the back of his mind, quieter and wiser than the first two, there's nothing you can do about it anyway.