OMG LOOK WHO'S BACK WITH THE HEAVIEST CHAPTER UP-TO-DATE. *avoids your knife throws with finesse* Great way to leave a chapter hanging huh? DO NOT READ IN ONE DAY. SERIOUSLY DO YOURSELVES A FAVOR BECAUSE THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OVER 10,000 WORDS I THINK. :P Lol well it's good to be back, hi guys! How are you? :D Seriously, I know, this fic should've been done since April, I'm so sorry! But don't worry I'm not even going to explain what I went through; though now I know how the Tooth Fairy feels juggling an entire system of people. D: Just know that I have never forgotten this story or you guys because I DID devote at least 20 mins to this every day since the last update, okay?! :3 So let's do this! I'm a little nervous since it's been a while but I'm also excited as always, even when some of you thought the fic ended. Haha so relax and enjoy!
*Creds to Crisbel and an ENORMOUS THANK YOU to my beta for this chapter, the patient and amazing omelette de l'amour lol, Emily'sMindPalace. We had a 7-hour time difference, she had over 12 exams around the time I gave her the chapter, and we threw, at least, 100,000 words back and forth over 8 weeks but we had a blast doing it. :3 So please give Emily all your love! And be sure to check out her own RoTG fics, especially 'The Door to Beyond' which is a fantastic read. :) And THANK YOU for all the messages/aggressive encouragement guys! (I wanted this up by Friday the 13th but that obviously did not happen lol.) Annnd, Happy Father's Day to all you dads this weekend!
"All that's made me is all worth trading. Just to have one moment with you."
"...tor! ...octor!"
"...cess!"
"–subconjunctival haemorrhage... clean it out... an't see us! She can't s..."
"Hurr'..."
"...dult female, multiple bruising... thorax, severe blood... 'sponse and hypertensive... pm of 102 and rising f..."
"...arms dealer and world renowned terrorist Pitch Black confirmed dead twelve hours ago. His body was recovered offshore on Pisciotta from the Tyrrhenian Sea. His associates and dealers, well known for their own treason, have unofficially severed any known connection with the deceased. The site of destruction is under surveillance by several EUROPOL agents and the Italian National Board of Security. While the wreckage at the cliff remains a mystery, the underground facility has been cleared out with no visible activity as of approximately 48 hours ago..."
"Pull it out! P–"
"Hold her down! ...can't cut around the injury if her hair is... Ah!"
"It's just jumping! It does that, she–"
"No, the table! Move the blad... or she'll–"
"Inject... pulling out 450 mL ...h-her blood is clotting... nervous system–"
"Get the girls' v–Q-Quickly! ...It..."
"...Black's operational soldiers, identified transnationally as his 'Nightmares', remain at large but their organization is believed to be dispersed and obsolete for an indeterminate amount of time. Many within Black's former headquarters are assumed to be dead but for the surviving numbers, their margins are low and their locations are unknown..."
"Inject this now!"
"WHERE IS THE MENTH–Wh-What is she doing?"
"I think she...she needs a... get some paper...a pen!"
"Maybe she is trying to te–"
"She's not writing any.. ving a spasm–"
"Wait!"
Somebody gasped.
"Look! Her center... center is..."
"Give it t... her biotic, doc... Hurry!"
"Interpol confirms the highway traffic outgoing from Italy remains consistent. No fluctuations in flight plans or boat loads indicate recognizable criminal activity. Future reports are still pending. Agents are still required to be on lookout..."
Someone lowered the volume. The man's voice, stark and laced with countless hours of fatigue, now sounded miles away, but the news was enough.
Pitch was dead. Operation Nightmare failed and his organization was over; and thanks to Nicolas St. North, the ELF organization won the war...
...but the doctors, the shadows, kept moving.
Beep...
...beep.
The shadows started to flicker, and then one by one, they started to melt away.
Toothiana watched, unsure if she was supposed to be happy or more afraid... they shaped things she wasn't quick enough to put a name to, then they disappeared like they were never there in the first place.
She covered her mouth.
Her body moved forward on its own.
Beep...
...beep.
The shadows blurred into each other then drifted apart, wearing so thin they became light grey, and coming so close they turned almost black. Then in a messy blur, twelve shadows became seven...
And seven became two.
Tooth froze. She blinked and tried not to look away.
They started to take shape even though the lights were still bright. One was leading and when it laughed, its voice was deep and its arm around the other, bringing them closer. Tooth smiled sadly. Something warm and familiar fluttered into her stomach that she didn't know she was desperately starving for.
A name formed on her lips.
"..."
Beep...
The shadows kept dancing.
She bit her shaky lip and tried again.
...beep.
Suddenly, they waltzed closer.
"What the heck, you two?" Tooth laughed tiredly under her breath and wiped her cheek.
"Come on, you–OH!"
Suddenly, someone yanked her hand and pulled her into a run.
Tooth gawked but a small grin was on her face. She clutched it tightly and picked up speed. They left the other behind in a warm goodbye. The princess panted sunder her breath. She felt so safe and all her excitement bubbled up as her heart started to take flight. The white light all around them nearly blinded her.
"Slow down, will ya?" Tooth gasped, cheeks turning pink.
"We'll get there, okay? Haha we'll... w..." but her words faded away when her jaw fell slack and her heart fell into her stomach. The shadow had already grown slightly...and a wave of long dark hair suddenly flowed behind the shadow's head.
"W-Who are...Who–"
The shadow turned its head back to her and clutched the princess' hand tighter. Tooth couldn't see a face...
...but she knew the shadow was grinning.
I'm so proud of my little sweet tooth, it laughed, ...just like Baba.
"Wa...H–What?"
Tooth's hair got into her eyes and she shook her head violently to get it away.
"What!?"
Tooth's grip immediately grew tighter, her eyes started to blur with tears... She couldn't breathe.
"You mean...Y-YOU MEAN Y–"
But the shadow squeezed her hand one more time...
...then she let go, and all Tooth caught was the air.
"Wait!" Toothiana stopped running and planted her feet. "WAIT!"
The shadow was gone.
Tooth spun around.
"YOU MEAN..." shepushed one hand into her hair and reaching with the other for the light. "Y...Y-you were m... mom?"
She snapped.
"Mom!?"
Toothiana turned a hundred times in her tiny circle until nothing made sense anymore.
"MOM!"
"Pull her back!"
Several doctors finally caught up to Tooth and pulled her arms away from the door.
"Mom! Wh–W-Wait! No!"
"Make sure these palace doors stay–HOW DID SHE GET OUT?!"
"No, let me go! Please! Let me go!"
Tears dripped down her cheeks.
"Take her back to the room! Back!"
"Cêā h̄ỵing (princess) no! No! You–"
"But sh-she'll leave me agaain! I can't l-let her–I can't, I–"
Tooth watched as the double doors grew farther away. She blinked several times into the sunlight beyond the threshold.
"Mom, don't...please...if you l-love m... YOU WON'T–"
The shadow stood there for a second – a blink later, she was gone.
"MOM, NO! P...PLEASE COME BACK!"
"She's collapsing, doctor!" someone cried. "Her biorhythm is destabilizing again!"
"M-Mom, stop le-leaving m–D...D'gh! Ha–AAH!"
"The bruising!"
"A-Ahh!"
"Princess?! Pri–"
"Her'... hu-hurts! Ple's mak'it sto... mk'it stop... make it–"
Beep.
Beep.
*sobbing* "She's gon'ag... H'i..."
"Her tendon is still ripped, be careful she is bruised everyw...!"
"Tie that now, tie it–"
Beep.
Beep.
"Gyah–h'g!"
"Sh-She's choking! Quick, give me th–"
"Princess, look at me! You need to calm down!"
"H-Ahh!"
"Look at me!"
...look at me
Beep.
Beep.
"Heart rate is accelerating. Bpm is rising t–"
"Princess!"
"Prinsēsa! Make her stop! She needs–"
Come on, really look at me, Tooth
"Ah-hh'nn!"
"Hold her down! Cover her with–"
"Mff! Mfhmmf!"
"No, cêā h̄ỵing! Relax. You must relax."
"Relax, Thia. I will count to ten, okay? Okay? Listen to me."
"M-Mffh...h-hmmf..."
"Listen! หนึ่ง (sun)... สอง (nueng)..."
One...two...But I–
"Hold her head! Hold her–"
"Oh my god, Princess Thia, please listen–"
"สี่ (Sìi)...ห้า (hâa)...หก (hòk)–"
...ive...six–
"เจ็ด (jèt)...แปด (pàet)..."
Eigh–
"Almost there, your highness... That's right, that's it."
Tooth... just do it.
"And เก้า (kâo)... สิบ (sìp)..."
...Ten.
Her eyelids shut.
Then Toothiana drifted forever, it seemed. Gently lost in the adventures that painted her life with their faces, their voices... They never stopped talking and they never stopped playing like movie trailers – they never stopped telling their stories.
Tooth sometimes wondered why some stories shined brighter than others. They even reminded her of little balls, floating and bouncing around her. But in the end, Tooth was always too tired to understand, too exhausted to care. It wasn't hard after a short while to just let them pass her by and dance on the wind.
...the wind.
Beep.
Beep.
God, she missed the wind.
Maybe the ice in her dream would be the only place she found peace anymore.
...
Early morning, location unknown, 5:51 a.m.
"Mssm?...Mm?"
"...mm'm."
"...Smss'ms...smm. M'cs–"
Everything hurt. Nothing felt right. And for a moment, she didn't even know who she was or where she might be... then something squeezed her hand, causing her to scrunch her eyebrows.
Tooth's insides churned, making her sick and disturbed.
"Mu... c..." she swallowed a dry lump in her mouth. She wanted to pass out.
The fingertips were like ice and they sent a shiver up her arm.
A sigh escape her throat. "C... cold."
Suddenly, the air shifted.
"...sm... m'oh? Tsm–oo'ss–"
"'ld...'re cold," she kept squirming. But the more she kept repeating it, the more she realised that... she liked it.
"I...I–"
Tooth squeezed the fingers weakly.
"...oh ...rry,'ooth... I wa–"
The hand slipped out of hers. Her heart raced painfully.
"N... N, w'–"
Tooth hated her voice. It was scratchy and she didn't sound like herself at all but she had to try.
"Waih', y... y c'n–"
She flexed her fingers slowly and her eyelids twitched. The hand never came back.
"Y-You c... H'I nee–"
"M'sou worr...s'okay Too...'m right here...'m right here."
"And so are we."
And a cluster of hands cocooned her onely fingers with warmth.
"Oka'... rih'th... you..."
Tooth panted softly, trying to catch up to her heart. She clutched them as hard as she could, listening to their breathy intakes and gentle murmurs, until they gently faded away.
Then the cold returned, and the winter filled her dream.
...
...Knomjean's เสี่ยงมั้ย was playing softly somewhere, the song she used to get up in the morning when she was homesick. Then all at once, her hand subconsciously stopping moving. There was apparently a pen in her hand... and her paper was littered in lines going up and down.
Toothiana stirred awake, feeling her breath race between her lips. All at once, her senses turned on like a Windows 2000 processor. Slow to the point of suicidal, she panicked for touch, sound, sight, smell, taste... was it all there?
Tooth wanted to curl into a ball, but she felt paralyzed. Every muscle and joint felt like it hadn't been used in years – had she been lying on one side for too long? Her ribcage felt bruised.
Tooth exhaled weakly – and what were the funky colors behind her eyelids?
Meanwhile, the wind whistled and whooshed through something nearby. It was clear, as if there were no walls to barricade its sweet ribbon of air... and there were birds. Faraway, their morning tweets filled her ears with open arms and she couldn't help it.
The pen subconsciously dropped next to her.
'This is familiar...' and the peace in knowing that entered her instantly.
There was a stillness in the air that touched her atmosphere so gently and she couldn't describe it. But she could smell it in the fabric surrounding by her face. It smelled... it smelled the way her pillows smelled back in her dorm room. Tooth pulled her lip sideways – but this wasn't there. This wasn't her room... and yet… it was?
With an inhale she couldn't stop, Tooth froze. There was peppermint somewhere.
No, everywhere, and for the first time in an eternity her tired eyelids lifted, slowly and painfully and saw...
A tiny, blurry little shadow on her chest.
She paused, but then it hovered and flew away, leaving her drowning in a sea of golden yellows. Her eyeballs were still throbbing and refused to roll around in her socket any higher or lower. But eventually...
"...'m..."
They grew wide anyway. 'I'm–'
Memories of blindness dimmed away. Seeing pinks and whites were in the past; and as her vision sharpened, Tooth couldn't believe the sights before her.
Her royal bedroom welcomed her back like an old friend, showing her all the things she'd missed in her eight months away at school. Her king-sized bed still made her feel like a kid. At least, the soft sheet covered her legs for warmth but by the stark pull of the fabric, Tooth was convinced that someone changed it recently to make her body cool down in the rising heat – that, or she hadn't moved in a really long time.
Tooth winced from another blink and kept looking around. Her white fireplace and giant blue rug with beanbags and pillows was at the far end of the room. Her desk with her palace laptop covered in stickers was still protected at her desk. Even the white curtains of her canopy were the way they'd always been – tied elegantly, open to the wind, and swaying in the breeze from her right... Each new surprise threatened her one step closer into a faint – and she didn't care.
Toothiana instinctively turned her head. Groggy but swelling with emotions, Tooth recognized the two giant columns that supported the foundations in her room and large balcony. Oval shaped like an egg it attached cozily to the side of her chamber, she watched the potted orchids at the edges sway with the wind. And in the distance, she saw the hills of a tiny rain forest, its canopies lush, green and everything she remembered.
"I c..." Tooth croaked for the first time in hours. She sniffed loudly.
"...beli'v it...I..."
With puffy eyes and a dry throat, Tooth shuddered. She felt overwhelmed and her heart just wouldn't stop beating so fast. The morning sun finally peeked through its puffy cloud and shone warm light down onto her face. Tooth licked her dry lips. And a scared expression washed over her features.
"...'ome..."
And she took in one more deep, peppermint-filled breath to internalize it one last time.
"'M... h-home."
Homesickness immediately hit her like an anvil. The princess squinted slightly to stop her eyes from stinging with tears – she refused to cry. She forced herself to inhale sharply and stared at the familiar ceiling above her, remembering every groove and design like an old song. It was just the way it had always been and every blink she gave it promised her that. She was...
"I-I'm home, 'n... a-an... and I forgive you, Mo–"
Tooth froze.
Her center fluttered inside her and she turned her head. A dark blur rose up in the corner of her eye...
It looked like a head.
Erratic heartbeat racing and senses going crazy, Tooth waited. She waited and waited. Then finally the head moved, and she was met... with dark brown hair.
Dark brown... scattered with greys and whites that made her heart jump and her eyebrows rise automatically.
Then it was all Tooth could do not to slip into unconsciousness again or cry when the familiar face finally became clear and shone like the sun.
"A...Aa?"
...Uncle?
Basking in her aura, Haroom's younger brother, The Prince Regent of Punjam Hy Loo, Tanvir Hypunjam, holding a cup of mint tea without a sound. His heart raced under his royal robes at the sight of his little niece (and his only family left) and his mouth fell open.
Tooth was desperate.
"A-Aa?"
When no words came out, he put the cup aside and decided to kneel slightly and rubbed her head like he always did – right where her blonde streak started. Then Tanvir looked at her and she watched all the faint lines in his aging face pull.
"Thi?"
And at the sound of his voice, Tooth bit her lip and found it hard to breathe.
She said nothing back but immediately lifted her hands, not realizing how much she'd missed his hugs after having never said it. She wanted it.
No, she needed it.
Haroom's brother didn't falter for one second and reached his long arms to surround Tooth in a warm embrace. The scent of mint exploded in her nose and she clung to him like an anchor. When she hiccupped slightly, he squeezed her tighter and his sad smile pressed itself into her shoulder.
"You did it, Thi," he whispered softly and held her like it wasn't real. "...You did it."
And she couldn't see a thing as her mouth hung open and a terrible rip in her heart only continued to expand. All the happy emotions from seeing him battled with the immense sadness she couldn't fully accept yet, and everything inside her suddenly wanted to cave in and leave her in a crumpled mess.
Tooth's tears dripped down her face.
When her shoulders shook, Prince Tanvir pulled away and brushed all her tears away. In that moment, Toothiana saw Haroom in him and she blew a heavy breath through her nose.
"I m-m..." she mustered and she bent her head and clutched his hand. "I missed you, Aa."
And when he rubbed his eyes too, Tooth broke down and hugged him again. Then she cried with him, gripping him tighter as he gently rocked her back and forth.
"G...Glub m-mah laeo, Aa... Glub..." Tooth choked on her sob – then she shut her eyes.
The Nightmare was over.
"Glub m...M'm home...And h...how long has it been?"
"Three days, Thi...thr-three days."
And they stayed that way for as long as the sun warmed their skin and their hearts while the Prince reunited with his niece, and the Princess, who cherished every passing second with the Hypunjam blood humming strong in their veins, cried on and on...
...
Tooth's royal bedroom, Hypunjam Palace, (December 30th) 7:29 a.m.
"Thi, come on. Lie straight."
"..."
And Tanvir helped her slowly uncurl from her fetal position to rest on her back again. As he moved away, she looked around the room in dark astonishment. He tried to mask his unsteadiness with a sad smile and handed her the mug of peppermint tea.
"Here, drink your chah."
Tooth lifted her head and grasped it gently as he tilted it for her. But as Tanvir watched, her eyes didn't light up – so he frowned.
"What's wrong?" he asked and Tooth's eyelids fluttered.
"Róo-seuk mai sa-bai," she shrugged. "M...mai dorng gahn."
"But you love mint tea," he said as his eyebrows lifted. "What do you mean you don't like it? Are you sure?"
Tooth nodded as she closed her eyes tiredly.
"Maybe later, kay? It just tastes funky at the moment. So uh... what were you talking about again? The meeting... and uh, that is alright with you? And the court?"
Tanvir let her rest her head back on her pillow but he frowned sadly. He watched as Toothiana put her favourite Christmas mug down without a smile – she didn't react at all to the hot drink, which was usually one of her favourite things in the world. But the Prince said nothing to her sad reaction, instead blaming her traumatic experience for how it probably tasted in her mouth.
Tooth caught his silence and looked at him.
"Aa?"
He blinked and nodded with a crooked smile.
"Of course," he answered. "You don't think I sit down there all day for nothing, do you?"
Tooth shot a soft grin.
"I kinda hoped."
Tanvir poked her in the forehead.
Of course she knew that.
Even still, after what her uncle had told her about the island (in as little detail as he dared to share in case her brain went into overdrive) since being kidnapped, the country still had a lot to maintain and it was his job to go through all the hard responsibilities. All Tanvir really wanted to do was fly with the Royal Hypunjam Air Force and search the skies for her – like he used to do for the country back when Haroom was still alive and still heir to the throne. Being in his brother's place, however, was still an honour as any to do his part – but oy, what a part he had.
"And when you are Queen, Thi, you'll have to do all that too, remember?"
"Chí, chí (Yeah yeah)," she shut her eyes and blindly reached for the paper and started to forcefully draw zigzags up and down again. "I kn–"
Click.
Tooth stopped. In her silence, her uncle looked at her and quickly his eyebrows flew up.
Her eyes were wide open.
"Thi?" he asked nervously. "What...What do you see?"
When she didn't answer though he decided to just wait and watch, feeling immensely anxious. After everything they'd told him about her, and he'd seen what she could do while she was in her coma. He was proud of her. Immediately, a light ran across her irises, shining for a brief moment before it vanished, but in its flicker, she saw herself walk through her two bedroom doors... and the feet that pushed themselves across the floor in a hurry, hearing her uncle say shhh.
"T... Tooth?"
Making everybody jump, Tooth snapped her head up. And there in the morning sun, were her handmaidens.
Tatiana, Tia, Tiana, Theena, Tuhina, Tulia, Tina, and Tiati, along with the screams and tears she'd heard in faraway echoes...
TOOTH!
Toothie, NO!
Come baack!
"Y..." Tooth took a deep, island breath and an immense ache suddenly ripped through her. "You..."
"Don't worry, Toothie... Pitch is gone."
"...you guys."
And they moved around her quick and close, sighing and whining to the point of drama. When Tanvir moved to sit in Tooth's cushiony royal blue armchair several feet away, her handmaidens were all that filled her vision, but the pain never went away.
She remembered the terror but they all looked... normal.
As Tuhina pulled Tooth's paper out of her tight grip and moved it with the other's on her desk, she frowned. Tooth was still drawing lines, but the princess merely frowned back.
"Was it…" Tooth started, "...so was it just a dream?"
They said nothing but Tooth was already trying to tilt her head up higher, shake it harder.
"Did I imagine it all? That you...That you were hurting?" she mumbled. "B-Because I remembered the skin an...a-and the sprouts. Did you–"
Tulia shook her head and her pigtails slapped her cheeks gently.
"No, Toothie."
"N... But Tulia, w..."
"Wanna see?" and she crawled closer on the bed and took Tooth's hand nervously, almost afraid to touch her big sister after everything they'd ruined for her. But Tooth held on tight.
Tulia bent her head slightly and leaned in so close to Toothiana's face that the princess had no choice but to see every detail about her ten-year-old clone right in front of her. Tulia then lifted Tooth's hand in hers and placed it gingerly on the crown of her head. The second their skin touched, Tooth's own scalp flushed in reaction.
She frowned.
"See?" the younger sister murmured and the others crawled in closer too to show their own faces and bodies. "Tiana's arm still hurts and Tuhina's face won't stop itching but... our skin is going back to normal and... and the sprouts are going away. Rū̂s̄ụk (feel)?"
Sure enough, as Tooth rubbed her fingers softly against the top of Tulia's forehead, she still felt the deformed lump from Pitch's experiments. It was receding but it was all Tooth could do not to draw herself away from her smart and beautiful younger sister.
Tulia watched her hiccup and a smile start to form on her face.
Pulling her gaze to the left, the Hypunjam princess took in all her copies with each weak but healing tick of her heartbeat. They were smiling, and that was always a good sign. But the purpling on their faces to the spot between their eyes (the ones she remembered when they were trapped inside the Nightmare suits) were fading and travelling back up their foreheads. Tuhina still had a slightly blotchy complexion and Tooth caught her blinking tightly several times. But… Tiana's arm was no longer twisted and Tia looked healthy again – Tuhina and Tia's eyes were still light pink, though, and Tatiana still had two different eye colors.
She couldn't even think about anyone else at the moment except for the eight girls she'd struggled, ached, and fought so desperately to see again. They were all that filled her vision and, for that beautiful morning, her entire heart.
Dib. Dib. Dib.
Tooth's lungs shivered.
Dib. Dib. Dib.
"Wait, then..."
Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib.
"...are we dead?"
The girls sighed and shook their heads.
"Good," she shut her eyes in melancholy and leaned back into her pillow again, "...that's good."
"What do you remember?" Theena asked.
Tooth opened her eyes.
"...everything."
They lifted their eyebrows slightly.
"Really?" Theena frowned nervously. Tooth missed how the girl exchanged a heartache-filled look with the other girls as she shrugged.
Her bruised shoulders made her flinch.
"O-Okay, I'm joking a little." she rubbed her forehead with a deep frown. "I remember junk in flashes, but I know it was Pitch. And you guys... he almost turned you into experiments... but we won?"
"We had help," Tia smiled cryptically. "You came, and you brought people to save us."
"Did I, now?" she smirked softly and Tina crossed her arms proudly.
"Yup. You... and the Guardians."
No word sounded more perfect on her tongue and she grinned.
Tooth felt her center flutter again. She opened her eyes slightly and looked at her feet.
"They were great..." Tat and the girls watch her sigh to herself and wiggle her fingers.
"Well?" BT looked at her and she bit the inside of her cheek.
"So... just making sure... Heh, I'm not paralyzed, am I?"
Tat rolled her eyes.
"If you were, that would just mean more slavery for us."
"TAT!" and they laughed.
Toothiana shook her head before she groggily lifted one leg slowly. An explosion of tingles ran down to her toes. She flinched and shut her eyes, then immediately braced her arms on either side of herself and eased her neck up gently.
The handmaidens rushed to her.
She shot them a hard look.
"No, no. It's okay." she said curtly and the girls backed away slightly at her sudden tone. Tooth gave them a gentle smile instead, before she fisted the bed sheet and pulled it away from her chest.
"I need to do this for myself, alright?"
Prince Tanvir looked at her gently as the girls said nothing and nodded. And Tooth was grateful, proud as she always was when they knew how to respect her wishes, no matter how ridiculous they seemed – which, to them, this was. She'd barely just gotten up for 20 minutes and they'd heard her whine under her breath in her sleep minutes before and her stomach growl from constant hunger. They worried for her day and night, and would have preferred if she'd just let them tend to her.
Tooth narrowed her eyes, already feeling the slight dizziness.
"Okay..." and with a deep breath, she bent her spine and lifted her own head from the bed – and every muscle ached instantly. Tooth winced and whined under her breath.
Tia moved in with her arms raised.
"No," Toothiana waved a hand down at her and the teen pulled back instantly. Tooth inhaled and exhaled tightly through her nostrils, committing to memory every sore joint, bruise, and cut flaring up... and she'd never felt stronger. After a few more inches, she was sitting up while her back hunched with dull throbs. Then Tooth rolled her shoulders a little too flexibly.
After one big sigh, she smiled a little.
"I told you..."
Until she looked down at the bed sheets, her forehead creasing in dark, murky emotions. "But I guess I... I still feel something empty... right there."
And they watched Tooth touch her chest as a frown split across her face.
"Did I... Did I get an organ removed?"
"No," Tia laughed gently and Tulia offered her bookworm insight. She smiled sadly.
"It's just from the postra...post trau...'matic stress we all went through...you just feel like you're missing something."
Tooth didn't look up as she clutched her dress tighter. Her fingers started twitching like she wanted to draw lines again.
"And maybe I am?"
BT and the others waited – they knew what she wanted to ask next. Tooth moved her head with a nervous shake.
"You saved us," Theena tried to help as a start but Tooth shook her head.
"We saved each other... and I... So can I–" and finally, the Hypunjam princess raised her arms pathetically. "...can I h-have a hug now? Because... because–"
They instantly moved in and made a nest around Tooth.
Her tears finally came.
"Khit theung thook khoon (I missed you guys)," Tooth breathed, "a-and you don't even know how this feels right now."
Baby Tooth smiled as she rested her cheek on Tooth's hair.
"We know, T... Trust me, we always know."
And a shaky sigh left Tooth's ghost of a smile before she looked them in the eyes.
"Now," she whispered nervously and they held their breath, "where is–"
"Your heartbeat, Toothie."
Tooth blinked and pulled away. She looked over at Tiati's purple stare.
"Hm? What?"
BT sighed under her breath – a big frown flashed before she pushed it away.
"Tiat–"
"No, listen? Dub, dub, dub, dub...that's how you sound."
Tooth bent her head. "Really?"
"Mhm," and the baby sister crawled close to Tooth and lifted her hand to pat princess' heart.
"Rū̂s̄ụk?"
Immediately, Tooth flinched and pulled her hand away.
"What the–"
But Tiati wasn't joking, not that she ever did. Tooth finally realised that her heart wasn't just beating pretty hard–
Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib.
–it was a freakin' jackhammer. That's it sounded, that's how it felt.
"That's how I..."
But she wasn't scared (okay sure, she was scared but not 'heart attack' scared), she just felt abnormal.
Not that that ship hadn't sailed years ago.
'Okay, no! I should be gasping,' and Tooth made a face and the girls stopped berating Tiati in hushed tones (for interrupting the princess in the middle of what was supposed to be the direst question all morning). They looked at her anxiously.
"So my heart, is it..." she chewed her lip, "is it from the mutation when I injected myself?"
"It is, Thi."
The girls turned around to watch Tanvir get up from his chair and walk over to them. Tooth furrowed her eyebrows – as she did, her hair moved slightly in the breeze.
"Am I gonna be okay?"
"When you came in," he started and he took her hand, "you were weak and you were changing, and your skin was dark with lines...and your eyes were..."
A wave of panic moved across his face like he was seeing her all over again, hearing the doctors scream orders, and the GUARDIANs move everyone out of the way as they turned the royal nursery into a medical-science site filled with emergency hospital stations and tubes lined with the strangest chemicals. Then straight from Naples to Italy, the normally 10-hour flight (which North's Sleighrunners did in less than five) was spent on any immediate ELF or person injured... and Tooth.
Menthol 64 pH! 64 pH!
He remembered them screaming that over and over again like if anyone forgot the amount there was no other hope.
He squeezed her hand.
"You looked so different...and you sounded so afraid. And you kept crying for people."
People he knew well, people he didn't, and people he wished with all his heart he could see again.
"Who was I..." Tooth gulped and covered her heart when it started to beat even faster. She didn't like it. "Who was I calling for?"
Tanvir shook his head.
"It does not matter," he replied. "They had to put you to sleep anyway. So they could watch you."
'Yeah yeah, because I'm Tooth and I never help in any situation,' she huffed to herself.
"Sorry," she muttered but Tanvir looked at her wildly.
"Wh... No, Thi, it was alright!" and he rubbed her head. "You did... what you did, after they gave you what you needed, it made up for all of the heartache. You healed yourself."
Tooth looked at him.
"I did?"
Baby Tooth nodded, wanting to join in.
"With the mint oil extract," she said. "The one that Pitch..."
The girls watched as she turned away with a moody look, but it was only to be expected. Tat made a fist in the bed.
"That's why I ran and came back," she explained. "Before I found you in the dome? ...I went to look for it."
"Look for what?" Tooth lifted an eyebrow – but she remembered Tat's bloodied feet and her white dress, and how scared out of her mind she was when she tried to follow shadows that she thought belonged to her teenaged sister.
BT scratched her neck gently.
"The extract," she finished. "I left Mr. Sandy after we got ambushed and stole the vial that Pi...the one he used on me that made me stronger."
"BT!"
"I know, I know!" she whined. "But you gotta understand, if I didn't, the ELF scientists would have never known how to stabilize the Center gene. Ever!"
She grabbed Tooth's other hand. Tooth was mildly surprised when that fire Tatiana always carried seemed to blaze as she told Tooth what she'd probably been telling herself the entire time she stole it.
The 17-year-old went on with a steady breath.
"Every one of us got hurt because of it. Tia, Na-Na, Thee, Tools, Ati...all of us. And I knew that if he would, if he could... he'd hurt you, too."
Tooth frowned as her eyes began stinging, and BT shook her head.
"But then he made that one mistake of telling Mr. Sandy while I was there. And when we got separated I asked myself, and I said... What would Tooth do?"
Tooth swallowed a lump in her throat.
"Ta–"
"So I went looking, and I found it," Tat smiled. "I took one, and I destroyed the rest. Then I hid it after he... after he captured us–"
"Y-You guys!"
"Baby!" Tia screamed and Baby Tooth made a mad dash, her right hand clenched tight into a protective fist.
"Tulia!" she screamed and the little clone looked up in fright. But just before BT could lift her hand to throw–
"TATI, NO!"
"And he never saw?"
Tooth's eyes were as wide as saucers but BT shook her head like it was the only blessing worth dying for.
"He never noticed, T... and when we all made it out alive, I gave it right to Agent Aster. H-He did the rest."
The rest being North alerting and gathering the massive team of ELF scientists specializing in everything related to the clones' biology and Project Guardian. Then while Tooth slept, they'd reformulated Pitch's menthol extract with all the peppermint oil they had seized throughout the entirety of the Hypunjam castle... and reinvented a healing biotic enough for Tooth, her sisters, and the last of the GUARDIANs.
And as she slept in an induced coma, they took her blood, they took her sisters', and they watched the gene repair and rewrite itself... leaving many in awed silence and fear for hours while she slept on and on...
"So my body has healed," Tooth rubbed her chest and almost fell mute with exhaustion. "...but it's also stronger."
And Tanvir let go of her hand. He moved away.
"Your muscles have mutated," he mentioned softly.
Tooth whipped her head around to him.
"Muscles fibres, specifically. They are stronger in size," he explained, "and you are now what the doctors called Type IIa. You may ask them later, but you have a genetic 'fast twitch', Thi... That's why you react quicker than everyone, why you move so fast."
Tooth stopped rubbing her chest and looked down.
Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib.
"Type 11a..."
Tat nodded.
"Your body's changed, Tooth... you're as fast as a bird now. You can run any speed you want and we won't catch up. Well, I might since I can sorta do it but..."
"It's your superpower. Like the mental link you have," Tia teased and stopped briefly to blink at her sister in gentle awe. "The one you have with each of us?"
Toothiana bit the inside of her cheek.
"Mental link? Oh, right."
She'd forgotten about that, too, and as her uncle moved to sit back in the armchair, he sighed. And Tooth looked down with a frown – she couldn't agree more.
"I'm already a weirdo but... Man, this is a lot to ta–WHAT THE–"
Baby Tooth watched with the others as she froze.
Tooth lifted her hands nervously and pulled at a piece of her dark brown hair... which seemed to have grown for miles.
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish as she clutched the end of her hair. Her bangs had grown out and were framing her jaw, and as she reached and pulled on it, her eyes were wide as saucers – her blonde streak ran like a ribbon down to her chin.
"My hair is long. My hair. Is. Long." And she touched it with delicate fingers. "Why is it long?! I thought you said it's only been three days! Not three months!"
Prince Tanvir tapped his temples in deep thought.
"Look on the bright side, Thi," he huffed. "You never have to worry about bad haircuts again."
Tooth stopped and looked up at the ceiling in wonder.
"Wh–but after someone told me to cut it, it helped a lot. I kinda liked the short look... "
"But T," Tat pursed her lips. "I thought you said–"
"I've gotta see this!" she started to panic and threw her bed sheet aside, but Tiana grabbed her arm and forced her back.
"No Tooth, not yet!" she argued. "You're still weak!"
"No it's okay, Ti," Tooth argued and tried to pull out of her sister's grip, but the clone's hold was strong. "I need to get up anyway and try to take it slow–"
"Then we'll get you a mirror," Tina argued and she grabbed Tooth's other arm gently and yanked her back too. "Just relax Toothie, you'll be–"
LET ME GO! LET ME–
"AHH!"
Tooth shrieked suddenly and the girls jumped in fear.
"Tooth, calm down," Tia urged. "What's wrong? What's–"
Yellow goggles. Her knife stabbing him in the stomach.
Tooth looked around.
She blinked rapidly.
"Too–"
M-Make it storyti–I'M SO SORRY!
Tooth's bed sheets suddenly flew up and the girls felt a rush of air that made their hair fly back. They jumped in their seats, not sure where she was.
"Tooth!? Too–"
BANG!
"TOOTH!"
BT and the other clones snapped their heads to the end of the room – and they watched Tooth slump against her huge white, wooden dresser. She was clambering to stand on her knees and clutching the furniture like a rock in the sea, then froze a second later and turned to look at Tiana, half-expecting to still be at the foot of the bed. Tooth was almost twenty feet away on the other side of the room.
"Wha–"
She looked down at her feet – her mouth fell open.
"Holy crap, I can move."
"Jeez, Princess Graceless–" Tat sassed from the bed but when Uncle Tanvir shot her a firm look, she sobered up instantly.
BT huffed and looked again.
"I mean, you okay?" she offered, giving Tooth less sass than she wanted to, and watched as Tooth's dark head of hair bobbed up and down.
"Yeah, I'm okay, don't... don't worry about me," Tooth answered back and tried on very shaky feet to pull herself up. "Just trying to comprehend the fact that I can be the Flash now."
"The who, phi?"
She sighed.
"BT can move fast too," Tooth mumbled to herself.
She remembered Pitch's facility, and all the running, and Tatiana showing up and disappearing like a ghost before they got to the dome. Now the two of them would have to be careful no matter what.
Tooth clutched the front of her nightdress fearfully. They all leaned forward on her bed as she looked around at her feet. Tooth squished her toes in the cool, marble floor and stared behind her at the room's giant floor mat. It was covered in mismatched pillows and beanbag chairs that wrote all the stories of their childhood growing up – and the hours of waiting that sisters spent while she was in a coma.
'Three days,' she frowned. 'THREE DAYS.'
Her heart was the loudest thing in the room.
Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib.
Tooth scrunched her eyebrows and tightened her fists.
"Calm down," she mumbled to herself. "It's okay just... just calm down."
But it wasn't like she could stop shaking like a leaf. The girls turned to watch her silently and held each other's hands. Tooth then stood on her tiptoes, leaning in closer to her reflection. Every inch moving into the sunlight, casting itself in on her, made her fear the worst. She still remembered all those uncomfortable memories of getting pelted with grapes in elementary school for her funny accent and different appearance back when she first moved to the States as a little girl.
She tightened her fists in her dress' fabric. It came up to choke her like frigid ice.
It took months, years almost, for Tooth to build up her confidence again and be proud of how she looked after all the teasing – now she loved everything about her that made her special. But what if Pitch's peppermint biotic changed her all over again?
What if she...
Tooth gulped a dry lump in her throat and squeezed her eyes shut.
Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib.
She exhaled.
Then, with a brave face, she lifted her chin and opened her eyes slowly.
Tooth went still – she went still for what felt like a long time.
"T?" Tat called gently. "It's okay."
Tooth shuddered with another breath as BT spoke again. "...It's okay."
And she was honest, it really was.
Lifting her shaky fingers, Tooth pressed her fingers to her face. The Nightmares had been relentless in her coma. They wound her up like a broken toy and cemented into her the fallacy that however this adventure ended, she'd be doomed forever. The veins in her face were one of her biggest fears but Toothiana bit her lip, she rested her palms against her cheeks – they were no longer there.
Hardly believing it, she leaned in more closely and pulled her face up and down.
"Does it still hurt, Toothie?" Tiati asked timidly.
"No nong," Tooth replied in relief. "It doesn't hurt. Not anymore."
Tooth rubbed her face until her cheeks tingled and her skin was perfect again. With a deep breath, she pushed her hands up into her hair and squeezed her head.
"I can't believe it," she murmured to herself before quickly lifting her upper lip and sighing in relief at her clean and pearly whites.
"And yes, the teeth are safe. My poor babies..."
Tooth then dragged her fingers all the way down to the ends of her hair and did a slight turn to see where it ended. In a gentle cascade, her hair was dark and long, reaching all the way down to her waist in waves she couldn't describe.
She turned back, fully facing the mirror again, and made a noise in the back of her throat when she realised that her golden streak really was past its normally short length – it was pretty and danced all the way to her shoulder. Tooth moved as close as she could and pressed her stomach right against the dresser.
She sighed and rubbed her eye delicately.
"Can you try to look through me, Tooth?" Tina interrupted her. Tooth looked at her in the glass with a sad face.
"A-Are you sure? You're not weirded out now that you know I can do that?"
And Tina smiled gently. She shook her head.
"As long as you can't see inside my head then we're okay."
"Yeah, so you can't see the guard she's always crushing on–"
"Shut up, Tool!"
Tooth snickered and turned back to the mirror.
"Okay."
Tooth felt her chest flutter slightly in the warm morning heat. Then with a firm push, she forced herself to see through Tina's eyes.
Toothiana watched Tiati's head appear under her chin and Theena turn back to wave at her through Tina with a small smile. Then Tooth pulled her gaze up to see herself at the mirror–
In a rush of light, Tooth threw herself back into her own body and she caught her eyes in the reflection.
"Cool," Tuhina smiled.
"That's a relief," Tooth mumbled as she twirled it nervously in her finger. "Now I can le–whoa!"
Tooth realised that her hair finished moving on its own. She jumped back from the mirror in fright when the baby hair along the crown of her head moved like it was caught in an invisible breeze. They immediately followed with another twitch and a ruffle, almost like bird feathers.
Tooth blushed.
"I'm a weirdo. I'll be forever weird, and I'm..." her sentence faded out as she looked again and felt her head twitch. Against her will, her hair automatically fanned out gently along her scalp – and despite herself, Tooth thought it was relaxing and released a lot of the tension under her skin.
"Ew, why is it doing that!?" she asked and did it several times. "Wh-What am I, a bird?!"
She whirled on her sisters.
"Can you guys do that?"
Tia shook her head for them.
"Nope, just you."
"So that's why it does that! When you spy on us?" BT shrugged. "You also do it while you sleep. Can you do it again?"
"No!" she sputtered.
She never wanted to do it again – until Tooth's baby hair ruffled again and BT laughed.
Tooth turned back to the mirror and bit her lip, but her smile still slipped onto her face. She stopped and blinked as a patch of sun shone in her eye when the clouds shifted. Tooth squinted through the light, still gazing at her reflection, but when she looked, really looked, she frowned slightly.
Tat was hugging Theena in the reflection more tightly.
"See, T?" she smiled a little. "You're still you. You just changed a little."
"Because of us," Tia pointed out fretfully and the others nodded and averted their eyes when Tooth looked at them through the mirror again.
"Yeah..." Tuhina murmured and the tired beating in her heart ached a little harder. "Sorry, Tooth."
"I'm tired of sorries," she mumbled and they swallowed the lumps in their throats.
"B-But phi, we–"
In a soft breeze, Tooth zipped back to them and they all jumped slightly as she bent a little in front of them. She swayed marginally, but shook her head and raised one finger.
"No, Tuhi," Tooth silenced her. She narrowed her eyes. "I mean it. No more sorries. I'm feeling...better already seeing you guys here, and knowing everyone's okay."
And she made a deep inhale again, letting the peppermint (forever a part of the air surrounding them) enter her lungs. Tooth then pulled herself up more firmly. The familiar tumble of her long hair against her bare arms tickled her senses. She smiled and reached up to wipe the tears shining in Tiana's eyes.
"We're sisters," she whispered, "and that is nothing to be sorry for. Okay?"
Tooth bowed her head for them and they all leaned in to touch their foreheads together. "Okay?"
"O-Okay, Toothie."
And Tooth choked on a lump in her throat when they agreed and moved into their 'wings' gesture.
"Wings up," she recited and Tia beamed.
"But do you forgive us, Tooth?"
"Of course."
And she shut her eyes.
"I do… I forgive you and everyone. For everything."
"Even those who... who don't come back?"
Tooth paused.
A dark flutter crossed through her heart but she quickly swallowed it away.
"Yeah... even them too."
Tatiana sobbed under her breath and bent her head lower.
"H-He's..." she whispered. "He's gone, Tooth."
Tooth opened her eyes slightly and squeezed them, trying to comfort them.
"I know... Prime Minister Ty... He's gone."
"No, T," and after a pause to think about their uncle, the girls clutched her tighter.
"It's been three days... and they still haven't found Jack."
"...who?"
And Tooth's eyelashes didn't even flutter.
She felt nothing for the name.
...
Location unknown, 8:51 a.m.
"Tooth..."
"Sh... She doesn't even know what hit her–"
"No, she did, remember? The wall?! Which means Toothie is–"
"And h-he isn't even... He's not... *sobbing* J–"
"They'll find him, Tuhi. They'll find him. We just... but... kun prá choo-ay–"
"Shh, shh! We have to be quiet! If she's spying through us, she'll kn–"
"We can't talk about this!"
"We have to!"
"B-But where is–"
Before the question even finished on Tiana's lips, the door to Rashmi's old bedroom opened and Mr. Sanderson finally walked in.
He looked around, urgent and despondent for a moment before his honey brown eyes landed on Princess Thia's handmaidens. When they paused and looked at him, Tatiana nodded hurriedly and gestured for him to close the door.
Sandy turned and shut the late queen's doors closed and padded across the grand room to the tiny group in worry. It was the only room in the Hypunjam castle where he, the late Prime Minister Ty, and the clones could talk about Tooth in private if there was ever an emergency or he needed to discuss things with them – Toothiana never went into Rashmi's room, partly because she still felt immense pain from being near it; another part felt nothing for it. But while they were grateful for the only place they could hide from her, the nine were almost always sad for the very same reason.
But at least the royal maids were helping Tooth go down to the garden sanctuary. She wanted to see the tunnels she'd seen in her... through her sight and she missed all the pinks and oranges. I've seen too much black and blue for a lifetime, she murmured until she started to complain about her headache. They guessed that she was asleep by now.
The Sandman moved on his fast, silent feet and caught Tulia's small hand just as he reached the circle of the clones. Sensing their overwhelming emotions, he squeezed her palm anxiously. In the past, it had always been him or Ty who would call the sisters to warn them of something about their loving 'Toothie' – but now, it was Tatiana who'd call him into the room with her sisters.
He looked at Tat earnestly. The question 'What is wrong?' danced strongly across his irises.
Baby Tooth said nothing at first, looking past him into some kind of invisible world he wasn't yet aware of. She gulped and let the large lump in her throat travel down to her stomach like an anvil...
"H...Has anyone found him yet?" she pleaded softly. She played with her fingers.
Sandy froze. He gave the girls a firm sweep of his eyes, then slowly shook his head.
Tia bit her lip and, after memorizing the patterns in the royal carpets, she lifted her head to meet his eyes. Catching their aversion, the royal GUARDIAN quickly touched his hand to his forehead and pulled it away with his thumb and his pinky up.
Why?
Tia frowned deeply.
"It's Jack..." she mumbled under her breath. "Sh... She doesn't remember him."
She looked at him and her frown grew deeper.
"And we don't know why."
A beat of silence passed and the girls watched as he nearly dropped the report he was holding. In a rush, he quickly turned and went straight for the door.
His sun-kissed face turned pale – and the girls panicked.
"Mr. Sandy!"
"Mr. Sandy, no! Wait!"
He needed to tell North, he needed to see Tooth for himself, he needed t–
Tulia yanked him back as hard as she could.
"Wait!"
Coming back to earth, he flinched and came to a halt. The girls thought he'd be fine but Tulia felt Mr. Sanderson's grip in her hand go limp as he looked at Tia longer.
"That's what you meant... what you feared, wasn't it?" Tat mumbled shakily as Tiana poked a corner of her eye when a tear threatened to peek out.
Sanderson dragged his gaze higher to the seventeen-year-old. But the words wouldn't stop bubbling up in her mouth.
"You told us to be careful... w-with the gene, I mean. I didn't think you meant... but..." she fisted her small hands. "The center gene, is it... So it can be tied to... to our memories?"
A tiny exhale left Sanderson's silent mouth as his fingers started to dance.
"But cêā h̄ỵing, you love peppermint tea!"
Tooth didn't lift her head as she kept writing on her paper, groggy but still resting alone. Her face was determined but her gaze was still cloudy.
"No, I can't..." she rubbed her eyes, fingers shaking and head still swimming with memories of Pitch. "I don't want it. Please just take it back, Khun-Pa? It doesn't taste like anything."
"But your highness, you need to! You're just like your... your queen-mother. You need mint you to stay stro–"
"There's other types of tea, Khun-Pa. Perhaps chamomile or chai?"
"But–"
"And," Tooth extend her hand, palm down and fluttered her fingers in royal etiquette. "May I please have some m...more paper? I need to finish this."
Tooth didn't even look up, staring wide-eyed into the zigzags plaguing her mind.
"But... Chí, cêā h̄ỵing."
Even after the maid had left, worried that all Tooth seemed to draw were lines going up and down and did not want their sacred drink anymore, Toothiana continued to flutter her fingers, flexing them too until she couldn't stop.
"So the bleeding effect..." Tat swallowed, "the... h-his real memories almost disappeared completely with the things he saw."
Sandy's forehead creased.
He nodded his head.
They looked at each other and down at Tiati who tried to hide her guilty (undeserved) face into Tuhina's dress. Sandy stopped and looked up at all of them before he dropped his eyes to the carpet again.
"...all I can do is keep you cold."
Baby Tooth froze and looked up at Tooth, jolting awake from her faint spell against a pillar several hours later.
"Wh-What's wrong?" and Sandy watched in a silent panic as a tear slipped down Toothiana's cheek that she couldn't control.
"Wh–Oh, it's nothing!" Tooth tried to reassure her by wiping away her tears in frustration. She sighed angrily.
"Sorry, I've been doing that a lot and I can't control it."
"Ar-Are you... Are you sad?"
"No, no," Tooth started but then looked ahead of them down the hall with a dull gaze. "At least... I don't think I am."
Sandy looked at Tat and the two shared a sad look as Tooth wiped her wet hand on her dress. Maybe it was just from watching too many sappy love movies, maybe she was still tired or...
She laughed at herself.
"I'm probably just leaking."
But when she shrugged and moved away, she shivered and frowned at the floor.
"I kinda want something cold," she mumbled fretfully.
"Maybe later Tooth," Tat said and Sandy grabbed her hand. "When it gets hotter today, m-maybe then okay?"
But even though they gave her vanilla ice cream later, thinking it might help, Tooth stared into the bowl like a zombie, thinking about nothing until the frozen foods melted away into a warm soup.
Sanderson's right hand made question mark-wave in the air. He then followed the sign for never and spelled 'J'...
'A'
'C'
...and 'K'.
And despite herself, Tuhina was horrified.
"But w-why?"
She thought of her puffy red coat, the church, and she frowned openly.
"But we can't let her forget him, don't you get it? Jack is the reason we're all here, the reason she–"
Sandy looked at his fingers, thinking about the little girl he raised and the man she hugged in the tunnel. He could not tell them about Jack's memory loss and how he forced himself to remember by taking Tooth with him. It was Jack's own secret – but it varied from Tooth's and he kept signing, trying to explain...
He kept trying to explain that Jack was linked to a long part of Tooth's adventure and that if he disappeared through blunt force or a traumatic experience, it meant that Toothiana's brain was trying to protect her memory of him until it was fully healed.
Tia explained it to the younger girls in a simpler way. Sandy frowned when they gasped, then continued.
He also kept trying to explain that until she made peace with whatever had changed her internally, Jack was locked away in a special box, and they could not force her.
After a long moment they all nodded, slowly and sadly. Toothie could not know Jack for her own sake until she remembered for herself. So Sandy made them swear.
Until she remembers for herself…
…and so Tooth continued to silent and afraid, her hand mindlessly clutching the pen and her head desperate to draw zigzags across some more paper . Her skin was sticky with sweat and her heart was beating at a pace she still couldn't figure out as normal. Her were eyes glazed and her head numb and obscure, but her tears stained her cheeks again – the reason for why, however, was already gone.
She bit her lip gently as something dark crept into the hollow of her chest, and she frowned with a determined scrunch in her eyebrows. The pen dug harder until all the warmth she felt went away and she was left cold.
And Tooth didn't know, Tooth wouldn't know... until she remembered for herself.
...
1:13 p.m.
CRACK!
A crash of paper hitting the floor was heard when a wooden table splintered loudly under Bunny's fingertips. Phil jumped down to pick them up as Aster pulled away, both apologetic and not giving two shits simultaneously.
"But how long will that be–urgh!" He reeled himself away from the broken table to double over. "Son of a–"
"Bunny!"
North clomped over the marble floor in his heavy shoes and took hold of Aster's shaking biceps.
"Overuse of center," he reminded the hacker and Aster nodded numbly. "How is ear?"
"Still buzzin'," he sighed and ran a hand through his dark brown hair. The blue tips were almost worn away and thanks to Tooth's biotic, he now had another, identical, dark streak of silver hair on the right side of his head, giving him a unique pattern across his hair.
Aster frowned at the floor – his other ear was still picking up the faint radio sounds from across the room.
"...ELFs J-Alpha. Time of report: 6:14 a.m., Eastern Time. The ice is receding and the clouds have dissipated... the patch is gone."
North shut his eyes, his wrinkles more prominent in the corners of his eyes. His frown was hidden behind his beard, shorter now and sticking out at angles thanks to the Nightmares' deadly assaults.
As he tried to bend over and push the pieces of the broken table away, he wheezed deeply and wiped his brow. His face was dark.
"Repeat the patch gone... but we–"
"When are they comin' back?!" Aster snapped desperately. "We sent th' lot of them out there almost a whole day ago, an–"
"Shh!"
"I can't hear anymore 'bout dead ends, Nick! Or bloody weather disturbances we find that come up black!"
After a moment, he turned the radio's volume all the way down. Aster frowned and squeezed the bridge of his nose – but it was just a show to hide his twisting expression.
"I can't sit waitin', I'm losin' it... This is bloody crazy!"
The two high-ranking ELFs and the last of Jack's stealth team were in the back, silent and still brooding.
"Bunny, you must calm down," North bit out, but the brunette whirled on him instantly. His lungs were still shuddering slightly from his post recovery.
"How can I, North? How can I?!"
The Cossack walked up to him, put his large hand on his shoulder and looked down at him.
"But what can we do, Bunny?" he asked softly. "How can we bring back her memory, hm? How? You know this just as good as me."
Aster looked better than he did all those days ago... his skin was still blanched under his natural sun-kissed tone, and if he was trying to pretend that his back wasn't the source of his pain then he was doing a damn good job – except against North.
Tatiana came in several times on her own to visit him, feeling the connection with him in Tooth's separation and the impact they'd both been hit with by the wind. She kept him updated and seemed to be the only one of the sisters who wasn't crying over Tooth's...friend. Aster's core and his dexterity would return, and thanks to Tooth's gene-modified healing biotic, all the GUARDIANs would be okay. But still...
Who knew that all those days that had passed – in comparison the time in between – had felt longer than all the previous week?
Aster's mouth fell open, ready to argue back... but nothing came as the realization was finally ready to settle in his stomach. Nicolas was holding up the strongest of all his men, almost like Sanderson – never really showing his pain – but his exhaustion was apparent, lining his face and burning his stress and emotions within his brawny chest. As Aster gave him a clear stare, the Russian quickly turned his head away and glared down at the smooth and colorful tiles of Tooth's palace floor.
"This is bollocks," Aster finally muttered and North pulled his hand away with a small frown. "We've been here three days and we can't even see her... she doesn't even know who we..."
He faded out as he sighed under his breath. North shot him a look before he looked at the carpet, too, in silent defeat.
"And we cannot stay any longer," he murmured. "Jack is still out there, and we have jobs we must continue to maintain."
Aster swallowed a painful lump in the back of throat and punched a wall without thinking. As he cradled his fist, he gave North a look of distraught bitterness.
"This entire journey, this entire mess, it was all for her... and now, she won't even know why or what she's done."
"Perhaps is better this way."
"Don't ever say that."
"Set, but... but without Jack... we cannot stay," North sighed. "As much as we need and owe Princess Thia, those memories are just that, until time being... memories."
"Righ'..."
Bang!
North stopped and looked to the right.
The rest of the room followed suit – the first set of double doors beyond the room's opened with a muffled boom. Whispers started in an instant as Aster and North looked at each other apprehensively, their brains still wired on dark thoughts and tired assumptions. Everyone went silent as the second set of doors made a boom – one moved to open.
Sanderson rushed in.
With his arms waving and his front immediately facing the door again, North walked forward slightly, his eyes wild.
"Sandy?" he asked his old friend urgently. "What is–"
The words slipped off his tongue.
He couldn't speak–
"G'...Ha'nnh...h–!"
Not when six pairs of boots and someone's choked breaths were suddenly filling the room like rising water.
Six ELFs were screaming across one another – four dressed in rescue thermal suits, two in medical coats – and each gripping the sides of makeshift stretcher stained with dark blood underne–
"He's not responding! I've given th–"
"Move guys, move!"
But the body suddenly jerked and the men jumped out of their skin as he choked again and threw himself over one side. Bringing down three ELFs and rolling into a spastic state, the men screamed.
The injured man continued to shake violently and curled into the carpet, his cheek pressed against the rug.
"Ja... JACK!?"
"His body's going into shock again! WE NEED TO–"
"BLOODY–"
Jack spat up blood and stared into nothing as his fingers tensed and bent and his coughs got worse. He didn't say anything, almost as if he couldn't hear anyone, and the emergency stitches in his side tore open again.
He choked on what sounded like a scream.
"JACK!" Aster ran to him in a flash. "It wasn't possible... BUT HE–HOW LONG?"
"Jack!" North appeared seconds later in his big, clomping shoes and tried to grab Jack's biceps. The second he touched him, Jack heaved and another shot of bile escaped his throat and he fell into a stronger convulsion, completely unaware.
His eyes were shut tight and his teeth were grinding.
"By the–"
"We found him in the ice!"
"Ice?" North halted with Aster and Sandy. "What ice?!"
Jack doubled over – it sounded like one of his ribs was broken or cracked and was puncturing a lung.
"Jack!"
"We found him–"
"Nyet! We get him to nursery! NOW!"
"BUT–"
"THAT IS ORDER! IDTI!"
Jack writhed on the floor as a searing burn started everything his skin touched. He wanted it to stop but he couldn't say a word, let alone function. His body and his mind were entirely split, separated for who knew how long, and it terrified them all.
Sandy waved his fingers but no one was looking.
"Patellar ligament is still repairin', left ulna is cracked..." Aster muttered as he looked over the GUARDIAN. "See, his fingers ain't curlin' all the way!"
"Ja–Crimnemya!" Nicolas cursed in луна and tried to lift Jack's head off the carpet when one of the ELFs needed to move an arm underneath. "JACK!"
But the man's eyes were blurred from blue to grey with white shattered in the back- a sign that his gene had hit its breaking point and was the only thing keeping him together. North's heart nearly stopped in his chest.
"Q-QUICKLY!" he shouted desperately. "WHERE IS MEN?!"
Sandy waved his arms.
"W-We can't get him all the way to the nursery like this. H-He's too–"
"But he–"
Jack suddenly made a weird wheezing noise in the back of his throat. His vision blurred with tears until his eyelids fluttered.
"Heartbeat is 107 bpm and rising! IT'S RISING!"
"JACK, NO! N–"
Ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling!
North and all his men fell into silence and snapped their heads to the left. In an instant, Sandy stopped ringing the gold bell in one of the ELFs' hands. He'd been holding onto it earlier as the stress escalated but completely forgot about it thanks to Jack.
The ELF gaped as the royal GUARDIAN dropped his wrist.
"Sorry sir! Wa–" Sandy shoved him sideways without a glance.
As the man went flying, he gave them all a very heated glare.
"What?!" Aster cried over Jack's heaving.
Sandy curled his fists in tightly for a moment after staring at Jack's suffering and the white marks left behind on his skin from his ice in Pitch's battle. A second later, he lifted his head and ran over to one of the many silk fabrics hanging down from the ceiling against a marble wall. With urgent fingers, he pulled it aside and showed them a smaller door he had a key to.
And they could see that it led into a secluded smaller hallway, winding and traveling east – east, and obviously in the direction of the nursery.
"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" North quipped and Sandy huffed in aggravation. He chose to ignore the comment and instead gestured for them to enter the secret network. The only signs he made were with his pointer fingers, holding them up like guns and curling the fingers in quickly.
Faster! Faster!
And after the ELFs got Jack back on the stretcher, despite his bone-chilling subconscious protests and his blank eyes, North still gripped his face in both hands and held his head steady. Jack's complexion was dingy and his saltwater hair was dried in sharp angles. Cuts carried across his neck and down throughout his ripped uniform and blood seemed to be gouging from everywhere.
And his lips, his fingernails... they were tinged with blue.
Sandy was relentless as he sprinted through the tunnels with them on his heels. His hands never stopped shouting.
FASTER!
In the longest forty seconds of their lives, all ten bodies burst out through the other end of the small door in the East Wing and their commotion sent the palace workers into fear.
"Get out of th'way!" Aster shouted and the door to the nursery at the end of the hall opened at his voice and his call-ahead prompt on his complink. The ELF scientists inside, male and female, were all shouting instantly.
"Get Jack's blood record! Hurry! HURRY!"
In all the screams, Tooth's bedroom door just twenty feet away from her once silent, large and unused nursery. As it flew open, Tatiana poked her head out in a panic.
"Wha–What's going...OH MY GOD!"
Her scream alerted the girls inside and they rushed to poke their heads out too. Like rapid fire, they each cried out and wanted to run after the boys. But–
"What's going on?" Tooth asked nervously, appearing in a wobbly run to the door.
The girls turned white with fear as Jack's stretcher – just seconds before she arrived – came whizzing past the double doors on the platform... but Tooth had been looking down at BT.
"Why are you all..." she pushed Tat protectively behind her as the men in the hall all ran to the nursery where they'd healed her. She blinked in worry and moved off the step to her bedroom doors and walked hurriedly after the guys.
"Toothie, wait!"
"But it's just blood, BT," Tooth argued in a huff and tried to see who was injured. She scrunched her eyebrows but didn't dare try to 'fly off the ground' like she'd done in her room – unless she wanted to end up back in the healing hands of Chief St. North's strange center gene scientists.
"Mr. Sandy!" she coughed, catching his gold amongst all the dark colors... and the red blood. "Mr. Sandy!"
But he was already through the door by the time she got halfway, and the men shuffled in with whoever was on the stretcher in a heartbeat.
Tooth's feet slowed. Maybe–
Crash!
The sound of metal and glass meeting something hard ricocheted down the hall and into her ears – through it, she heard someone choking and a guttural cough passing blood as the men panicked.
Tooth's heart fluttered with her natural worry and next thing she knew, her center was twitching and her muscles were tingling. In a wilful stomp of her foot, she kicked off the floor more than her weak body wanted her to, and was whizzing down the hallway in fright.
How many more people were still dying because of her?
When she got to the door, she fell sloppily into a halt and grabbed the magnificent door frame for support as she slumped in exhaustion. Tooth rubbed her eye and panted. She lifted her head and moved away from the frame to brace herself on her knees. She caught the foot of the stretcher.
"Toothie!"
"M...Mr... Wait, Mr. S–"
SLAM!
"Adult male. Hypertension and huge drop in temperature, lower than agent's average. Multiple gashes to the thorax and wounds to the scalp, fractured sternum, bruising to the limbs, abdomen, two possible cracked ribs, acute injury to the left femur: maybe twisted or dislocation."
"His seizures are recurring from his head injury but should I check his blood sugar? What if it's epidural hematoma?"
"Assess it, agent. But we'll need th–"
Coughed up blood appeared on Jack's lip. He started to convulse again as he turned his head away from the sunlight.
"Chest pain evident, defibrillator on ! Jack, can you hear us? Are you dizzy? How are you fee..."
"He can't hear you!"
They couldn't hear anything either, except for Jack's loud and shallow breathing. North and Aster said nothing, but guilt struck like a lightning bolt to their hearts. He was running out of time and if they didn't get him help soon, any kind of help–
"G'h–"
"Body's going into shock again! Blood pressure is decreasing, and his sweat is... Get me–GET ME THE–"
"Jack, no! Come on, mate! Come on!"
"FIND THIA'S VIAL NOW! FIND IT!"
"Bite on this, Ja... P-Put this in his mouth or he'll drown in his own–"
"Arrrgh!"
Jack's eyelids fluttered, filling his vision with patches of dark and light. If they didn't hurry, his body would run out of the reserved energy in his center gene and his organs would shut down entirely.
"Hold him! Keep him together!"
"How did you find him?!" North finally snapped. "HOW!?"
"Th-The beacon!" the ELF holding his head cried. "The one followin' that weather disturbance we went to scout for Nightmares a... There was a layer of thin ice just growing west to the border of the Mediterranean sea–"
Jack coughed behind the cloth and the ELF hugged his head tighter. He saw the ice. He felt the cold–
"And Jack wasn't under it, he was inside it!"
"What?!"
Several ELFs lifted their heads even as they ran around remaking Tooth's biotic for him.
"Hurry, agent! Hurry!"
"Jack, he... he'd subconsciously encased himself in twenty feet of ice!"
Trying to imagine it was worse than hearing it.
"It must have acted as a radiation shield until he and Pitch were cracked apart," another ELF interjected. "We don't know how much ice he'd built up but it was enough to absorb just enough of the bomb's first shockwave and toss them away in the impact–"
To picture Jack submerged and crafted into his own tundra, or feel ice pierce a heart like his, and do nothing about it... Jack saw flashes of a fire, felt the wind in his hair, and the drop of gravity in his stomach, and the sky swallowed him whole. He remembered feeling trapped, he remembered clawing for air, for life–
"His blood is clotting. The blood is–"
"Then Jack ended up in the part of the sea where the evaporation is lesser and the salt levels are weaker. So when he hit the water, his ice block didn't melt... but the North wind continuously circulated around him in a small pocket and decreased the temperature enough to sustain that layer over him. Through radiative cooling–"
"Cryonics, North... He was frozen in sleep preservation for three days–"
It was black, and cold, and when he like dying he never got so far past being locked in his own hell...
"G'hg! Hh–"
Then Jack remembered opening his eyes for the first time with a painful heartbeat. He saw the cracks in the ice over his head splinter apart and a light bleed through. Then the shadows pulled away, and blurred in and out as he watched in fear and confusion – until something pulled him up through the layers of ice.
And he wasn't afraid... He was–
"Three days he's been there from the scan on the ice shards. Three! Just like–"
A heart monitor on Jack's chest suddenly appeared and his rate was like a constant warning bell for all the staff on site.
"Jack!" they kept calling. "JACK!"
Yet even though they called, he didn't answer and his wounds bled faster. He couldn't distinguish most of them anyway.
"Bpm is 114... 116–"
(Sir? Wait! C-Can't anyone tell me?!)
Jack's eyelids lowered even further, turning his gaze into slits. His mind was unraveling.
He wanted to sleep.
He was already sleeping.
"N...Nhh–"
(Kŏr! Please! Who is that and is he... Is he gonna be oka–)
"Remove the bodysuit! G...Got it! CHRIST–"
(Agent, get back in here! He saved all of us, now we've gotta save him!)
(Well, is he?!)
"Cooling station on standby. Keep his heart warm but the rest of him under chill–"
"His heart is–h-he's crashing! Come on agent, stay with me! I need you to do your part t–"
"Get the defibrillator here, NOW!"
Jack shut eyes.
(...Sir?)
The blood trickling down his throat was the last sensation he felt. Peppermint was the last thing he smelled as he slipped further and further...
Jack! J-JACK!
Come on, just hang on to me!
I–
You have to!
And you have to hang onto me! O-Okay?! Don't...
What?... No!
The ground is breaking apart!
Don't look down!
Jack!
Hold onto me, don't let go!
What?!
I SAID DON'T LET–
I'M LOSING YOUR GRIP! TH-THE WIND IS TOO–
YOUR HANDS! GIVE ME YOUR HANDS!
I... REACH FOR ME! REACH, JACK!
ALMOST THERE! ALM...
Then...nothing. Just like before.
...
Hypunjam royal nursery, 9:54 p.m.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep...
...Beep.
The sun was long gone, and so were many of the ELFs on site in the makeshift ELF laboratory.
The chimes had finished going off in the highest bell tower, along with all the smaller bells given by the Hypunjam people for North's men. Each ELF had rang it softly for their fallen comrades in Pitch's hellish war and they remained quiet and sullen, but still very proud. Once it was over, Nicolas saw himself to solace by Jack's bedside... Aster joined an hour later as the rest left their positions in grim silence and went back to their other assignments. The enormous nursery was thus left to the nightly breeze and empty stations; and the word 'miracle' was the constant echo throughout the royal nursery long after the men and women had left in stunned silence.
A miracle. And 8 hours.
As it were, the peppermint was the strongest scent in the room. Its powerful liquid shade of green was still lining the drains of the chemical waste sinks... but it shined whenever the light hit it – and there were still four small vials left.
Jack blinked wearily at them, still groggy from waking up.
And he couldn't... even believe it.
They sat on the table adjacent to him, and his center fluttered slightly at the constant sight of them.
His face twisted slightly in the heavy silence and he turned his head gingerly to the right, not giving two shits about his bloodied bandaged head and neck. Something incredibly dark still inside his chest left him hollow. He couldn't seem to determine when it had planted itself there or if it would ever leave.
And his heart felt battered, destroyed, but he couldn't keep up with every beat.
He wanted to sleep forever.
Dragging his blue glazed eyes up higher for the first time since... Jack's sickly complexion twitched slightly and he exhaled deeply. An empty glass sat next his bed – water was strictly kept out of his reach in fear that his uncontrollable winter-imbued abilities would turn the room into an icy hell. He didn't stay on it for long, not when the surprise flowers next to it seemed to hold all of his attention.
Beautiful, bright, and each colorful with a hue of pink in the center, the hibiscus swayed in the wind. Two notes were placed beside their vase.
His muscles were shot.
"Sabbe satta,
Sukhita hontu,
Niddhukka hontu,
Anigha hontu..."
"Huajai khong-rao yuu duay-gun talord waylaa."
And for the first time in a long time, his mind was completely silent – void of any calculation, any strategy... but it wasn't peace.
Jack bit the inside of his cheek vaguely, and North finally stopped staring at him so intently. When he moved his back, it was like he'd snap it at any given moment. Aster followed suit, still white as a sheet and without words.
Jack turned away from the note with a dark look. As he tried to pull himself up against his pillow, North wiped the sweat from his own forehead and gave the young man's white hair an exhausted glance.
"Whatever beings there are... may they be happy..."
Jack curled his fist in and hissed quietly as he moved up another inch.
"May they be free from suffering... and troubles of the body and mind..."
Once he settled again, he shot the Russian a blank stare, but North sighed and frowned deeply.
"...our hearts are always together."
And Jack, against himself, shot the letter another glance before he looked away.
"...sh'always lik'd... 'xotic flowers," he murmured.
"Who?"
Jack shut his eyes tiredly.
"...b...our house nev'r grew... 'nything but tulips."
North's eyebrows shot up on his forehead and Aster squatted his large form close to Jack's bed before he even realised he was doing it. In his white button-up shirt, the hacker looked more polished than Jack had ever seen – except for the rolled up sleeves with his tattooed arms shown.
Jack squinted at him.
"...y've go' two streaks now. "
"Yeah," and he gave Jack's hair a quick glance too, taking in the dark brown dye that the ELFs had done for him to draw attention away.
Aster frowned.
"How you holdin' up?" he mumbled, both soft and rough as always.
Jack blinked lazily. "...insides haven't spilled out yet...what d'you think?" he breathed, his tone raspy and deep, and still cold since the fight.
Aster rolled his eyes.
"At least we haven't lost that mouth of yours too. Or any major organs."
And Jack's fingers twitched as he tried to look at them straight, his eyes clearing.
"...I... I just can't believe I'm... here. That I made it."
"You are, Jack," North nodded and moved in to grasp Jack's hand. "You are, and you are impossible. After what has been seen, no one can touch you now."
Jack said nothing in response to the sore aches of his silence.
"How did you do it?"
"...I just did," he shrugged. "What do you want me to say? What do you want me to remember? ...It only took one breath and..."
The men fell quiet again, their typical state of being, until Jack tested his bones in his hand again and curled his fist in gently.
"But Pitch is gone. I know it," he said under his breath. "And no one can tell me otherwise."
When North pulled away, Jack followed him out of the corner of his eye and caught the flower again.
"Jack... if we don't tell you now, we... T–"
North stopped as he noticed Jack's eyebrows lift suddenly.
"Tooth wrote that, didn't she?"
Aster heard the slight increase in Jack's heartbeat with his ears. As he looked at North's face, Jack pulled himself up slow and easy and he turned to hang his legs over the side of the bed. When he looked down, he realised he was in a simple blue long-sleeve silk pyjama set, easy for cool air flow and light enough to slip off in a medical emergency.
Jack frowned even deeper.
"I can't believe I'm in here when she almost... Hand me my–Aah!"
A second later, Jack fell back against his bed as his leg shot with pain. He turned for the vials and hobbled around the bed to grab one of healing biotics. Its potency was strong and shining through the glass but Jack could care less as his heart was suddenly racing.
"I..." he clutched it tight. "I have to–"
Jack snapped his head around one more time. He ruthlessly grabbed one of the yellow hibiscus, reminding him of the streak in her hair.
"Jack, wait!"
But Jack went around Aster anyway and began moving for one of his crutches in a desperate limp.
"Wait!"
He knew he looked like crap, sure, and he should probably rest first or fix his appearance – at least something before he stormed through the castle like a nut – but he couldn't help it. Every bone in Jack's body wanted to break protocol in her palace until he was sure the ache in his chest went away–
"Jack, no! You can't see 'er!"
And Jack paused mid-step and turned to look over his shoulder. His eyes hardened slightly as the other men looked at him warily.
"You know I need to," he threatened. "And why'd she send me a note when she could've easily just seen me. Crazy woman, I–"
"–because her letter is meant for a deceased ELF. She thinks that's your–"
Jack coughed a little and swayed. A little blood still appeared in his palm.
"What the hell?"
"That's why y'need to rest still," Aster snapped. "Y'gotta finish all the vials first!"
"Guys," and Jack's steely gaze turned frosty, "move aside."
"But Jack," North ushered gently and gave the shorter man a tired look. "We are saying that you cannot. Not yet."
"Why? Is she busy or... still asleep?" Jack asked and pulled his foot back. He stared out across the giant open balcony to the night sky. His forehead creased almost guiltily. "'Cause then, I... I guess I'll wait for her to wake up–"
"No, she is awake."
"So then what is the–"
"She can't remember."
Jack pulled his head back just as fast as the words left Aster's mouth. He swore something stopped ticking, stuck on standstill.
"...What?"
"Jack we get it, we're Guardians. We can get up fast too. But... I mean... Jack, sh–Tooth remembers…" Aster continued but his face grew darker. "She remembers Pitch, the fights… her sisters' cloning, her mother, and her mutations after she stuck herself with the needle..."
He stopped wiping his hands.
"...but she doesn't remember the details before that. Like why she was kidnapped, who the ELFs are, where she'd gone... She barely remembers how she knows North and I, but..."
Jack looked at him. "But what?"
Aster's thick eyebrows furrowed and his mouth was moving but he wasn't–
"But what?" Jack asked louder. His heart was a storm in his chest.
"What?!"
"...but ...she doesn't remember you."
"...H–"
Jack's face started to twist with pain and the men looked away.
"You're lying," he coughed and advanced on the brunette – he turned livid. Every bruise and ache Jack was still healing from suddenly felt like they were turning on him. "You're lying! You were supposed to look after her! But now you're telling me that she–This whole thing was about her so you can't pull that fucking shit on me, Cottontail, I swear–"
When he dropped his head and hacked again, his fist shook and he dropped Tooth's flower as he went to cover his mouth. More blood appeared in the center of his snowflake shaped scar.
"I just n-need another hour," Jack heaved as his lungs still shuddered and his gene fluttered weakly. "One and I'll–"
"No, you need to finish those off!" Aster bit out. "And why would I lie about somethin' like this? You think I'm here on my ass waitin' for both of you because I want to?!"
Jack clenched his fist.
"But what about her POA? Hm? Or did you forget that she has a Center gene?" Jack gritted his teeth. "She is one of us, which means she has her Place of Awakening too! If you'd just brought her there like I had to, then sh–"
"Jack, this is her place! Her palace is POA!" North argued and pointed a massive finger at the wall. "This is the place she woke up and starts over. Not Pitch's lair. Here! In her own castle, her own room and still, it does not work."
"W... But we–"
Jack couldn't see him straight as he stumbled back – but the tall brunette was relentless.
"She was in a coma, for three days while we searched for you! Three! And then she woke up and she didn't remember Wales. She doesn't remember Buffalo, or Nova Scotia, Ho Chi, Moscow–any of it!"
The words dropped into Jack's chest cavity like weights. With every hard splash they made inside him, a little piece of him cracked and bubbled up like vomit.
"Jack, is true," North moved in softly. "Would we tell you this if not it mattered? Toothiana is Not. All. Here."
The bitter scowl on his face slipped into a frown. "And for that, we are guilty."
"But h..."
And Jack bent down to pick the flower he'd dropped and kept on clutching the vial. He looked all around the room for answers.
"But how? I-I was the one who found her, who...who rescued her and brought her to..." when his gaze pulled up and stared at the two men, he froze and glared at them softly.
His fingers were shaking.
"This isn't fair," he whispered.
"Jack," Aster's eyebrows flew up. "Mate r-relax, y–"
"She can't forget any of us–not after everything we've been through!"
"Oy! Jack!"
But Jack was like Sandy, already inching for his crutch, ready to bring fire and brimstone on Tooth's already damaged recovery.
"She can't forget, I won't let her! Retrograde amnesia can be temporary so long as her neural scans only locate swelling in the temporal lob, you know this. But clearly you haven't tried hard enough so we–"
"JACK!"
North stopped him when the shorter GUARDIAN tried to move past him in pain, and the Russian pulled him back.
"Argh, stop it!" Jack growled and got in his face. "Why are you–"
"Do you not remember bleeding effect?!" North finally shouted and poked Jack in the chest.
"The bl–"
"Well?" the Russian chief insisted. "Do you?"
Jack pulled back slow, his eyes wide and detached, and the words... suddenly remembered were like knives to his body, cutting him through his chest and stopping the ex-operative altogether.
The brunette looked up at North...but there were no words to be said.
"This is serious, Jack. This is different," the ELF GUARDIAN mumbled. "You know this... if not self-repaired, everything locked away in her head could disappear forever. Broken memories are the most dangerous to tamper with. And a forgotten face coming back, is most dangerous."
Jack took a step back.
He looked past North at the closed door, imagining her lying somewhere waiting for him to step in – and his heart churned and dropped into his stomach.
"Her memory of you, Jack, is the only thing she can't piece together – which makes it the most delicate. And because every gene, every Center is different... because Tooth will always be the special case, we don't know what to do. Even your name left her vulnerable, even the ice..."
But North stopped as Jack tightened his scarred hand into a fist.
"Is there a technical explanation to all this? Something I can better understand?"
"It's more than likely biological, Jack," Aster said softly. "You already know that our memories are set in the gene. Because hers are now corrupted ...or desynchronized, it's not gonna change unless she's properly associated with her environment. No one's seen it, but Sandy said she's had nightmares during her coma and she's drawn things ...but it's probably your memory residue, not a bleeding effect."
"So Jack," North said above a whisper, "you cannot show her your face, say your name, not until she has at least shown signs of remembering you–"
The door suddenly opened and Phil poked his head in.
"Guherbera gufu'ah," the giant said and wiped his forehead in the summer Southeast Asian heat. Aster nodded for him and when the man left, the hacker walked forward and touched Jack's shoulder. Jack didn't flinch at the touch but he dropped his head.
"What point?"
"Huh?
"What point did she stop remembering?"
"Is...I-Is hard to say," North confessed. "It... Before your wind blew us all apart? That's all she talks abo–"
"That's it?" he breathed. Jack looked at him with the most painful expression the Russian had ever seen, and North couldn't look away.
"That's all she remembers? Just you guys and my–argh!"
Jack threw a hand down to clutch his side when the stitch the ELFs had made on his torso flared up. The two were on him in a hurry... just as Sandy came in with a look of shock.
The three then gave him support and helped him stay grounded as he swayed heavily.
"Tooth is hurt, Jack," North offered gently. "And so are you."
But the 24-year-old stared at the floor.
"I'm to blame. S-She said no and I... and I jumped anyway and I left." His eyes grew wide and distant. "I–If I'd... I just wish I could've done something, I–"
"Done something? But you did. You stood up to Pitch... you saved us. You saved everyone," and he continued inspecting Jack's still healing face.
Jack suddenly twisted in pain pulled himself out of North's large hold and sighed, the guilt heavy like lead in his chest.
"But...everyone, they... argh, but Toothi–"
"–would be proud of what you did. Like all of us, even down to last little sister."
And Jack stopped, just as Sandy reached up and squeezed his cold, dry hand that was littered with rough calluses and still hiding his scar in his bandages. Jack stared into his other palm.
"But I traded one life for another. Again," he mumbled. "Don't tell me you've forgotten how this profession works."
Aster's eyebrows lifted up and the Aussie nodded – he gave Jack's shoulder a light squeeze.
"Maybe if we give it a couple more days, her memory might come back, Jack."
"But we do not have a couple days," North countered and Jack looked at him warily. "We must leave within one... two at most."
Jack's eyebrows flew up. "What?!"
"We are not permanent guests, Jack. We have already overstayed our welcome while you were gone... The Princess is seeing our leave soon."
"N...No, she–"
"We ain't leavin' yet... but y'need to rest, mate," Aster mumbled as the door to the nursery's smaller room opened.
"Forty-eight," Jack whispered, and he squeezed the flower in his hand. "That's not enough...That's not enou–"
"Agent Frost," an ELF called.
"What now?!" he snapped unintentionally and pulled his head up with the same blank stare he'd woken up with – but even as he caught himself and moved to apologize, the ELF frowned – she already knew.
"It's okay, Jack. But come on... since you're up, let's start your physio now."
Jack nodded weakly, but it was all he could do as he sighed angrily, covering his eyes with his swollen hand as all the pent up emotions filled him to the brim.
48 hours... that's all he might have left with Tooth, and he couldn't even see her.
...
Toothiana's room, 10:41 p.m.
"Princess!"
"Welcome back, your highness!"
"You're okay! You're okay!"
"Nahng sow (Miss) Thia! What should we do? What more do y–"
"Okay people, move, move, move! We'll have her after they're gone!"
"–and make sure Jane's flowers get here, and don't forget to send word to Thaksin for more plates... Oh! Go to the south wing, ask for more naan bread! And those are a lot of flowers! Are they all from the same hut? Oh oh, and finally go the east wing, find Councilor Lao! Ask her for the paper, not me!"
"Got it!"
"You sure?" Tooth lifted her head again and the group of servicemen and maids nodded their heads gratefully. Despite her healing, they loved when Princess Toothiana still wanted to get involved in their planning, especially for the big award ceremony that was going to take place.
She smiled.
"Alright, go crazy."
"Thank you, Miss! Now please go and rest," and they all dispersed eagerly to their jobs.
She rubbed her eyes.
"Yeah okay, I'll just..." Tooth's busy smile suddenly slipped off her face and she dragged herself back to her private wing. "...I'm just gonna go and lie down."
Tooth rubbed her head, until she didn't even realise she was at her desk again and her feelings grew distant again.
Nobody understood.
Tooth gazed blankly ahead. Her head was swimming with nothingness, but her hand kept making strokes back in forth on the scratch paper in her lap. The blue pen was desperately making zigzags, ripping up and down until her head finally cleared. When there were more than enough, she stopped and dropped her head to look.
She frowned – and after coloring in two circles under the spikes, Tooth dropped her pen and pushed away from the table. Her fingers were suddenly shaking.
Wobbling back to the bed, she covered her eyes and tried to block out Pitch. A fire in the sky filled her head and there was snow everywhere. When a whine escaped the back of her throat, Tooth crawled back on her bed and curled into a fetal position... then she waited.
The seconds ticked by where Toothiana did nothing. She blinked and frowned and thought about being a spy and shooting at point-blank range. Then, it was over and she stopped shaking; Tooth sighed and stared at the ceiling. Her PTSD, now that she accepted what the hell she'd been doing was okay for the moment, but it'd be back within the hour.
'This coping thing sucks,' she closed her eyes and for a moment, she kind of wanted to shoot something – until she realised how ridiculous that sounded. Too bad she'd grown used to the feeling of having a weapon attached to her leg.
Sitting up quickly, Toothiana touched her chest, feeling the pain in her chest not as a gene mutation but on some unknown level – she hated it.
Without thinking, she pulled up her head to the papers resting on her desk again. Some were reports she had to sign as media consent for the Hypunjam public dying to see her, others were royal agreements to which she'd been waiting for her since before she was kidnapped that her uncle needed her to sign. The rest were sheets she'd printed about her new winter schedule for the next term at Fay U that she'd be starting a week from now – and Tuhina's sketches and the other girls' welcome home drawings and notes were scattered about too.
Then finally, Tooth looked down at the paper she'd ruined and stared into the spikes and the circles. The circles terrified her to know end. She felt like they were staring back at her.
Then it clicked. Something clicked...
They were eyes.
...
"Argh..."
Jack's soft grunts, his crutch, and his bandaged arm were the last things he needed as he shut the door behind of the nursery behind him. He felt his body quiver slightly but after taking another swig from his second vial, it stopped.
He really wished he could train or throw a dollyo chagi at some target and just break it – but then he'd probably break himself.
Everything was only bandaged and wrapped gently as the new biotic – made with write-ups for Tooth's DNA enhanced his gene tenfold. The adrenaline was so high that he remembered being shot with epidural anesthesia just to stop his spinal cord from trying to arch and twist itself. It only sucked when North realised that Jack's kneecap was dislodged, out of place from his fall, and forcefully had to twist the entire leg back into place. He screamed into a cloth and let them realign his bones, but he knew it was necessary. Bone cartilage stopped being soft around the time people turned 22 so he needed to make sure everything was perfect or he'd never fight again.
But it was otherwise fine, feeling his open wounds slowly close together and the stinging die away with a warm sensation – the crutch was merely a level of support as the biotic did the rest. It would only take about three hours now and that was all thanks to Tooth and the splices of her stem cells now running through his–
"Be careful at the next hall, Jack," one of the ELFs had said as Jack walked through the door for a short walk. "You'll get lost in this wing if you don't stick to the right."
"Thanks," he muttered, then left in a cold flurry of air, his eyes cast down and his heart mangled. He went slow and inched his way across the beautiful marble, pissed out of his mind and smelling severely like Rub A535 ointment. About nine castle workers kept zipping past him on their royal duties and it hurt because of who they represented. It almost hurt more than dying.
Tooth was alive, but she couldn't remember him. And he–
Sensing something suddenly, Jack tossed up his head and rushed behind a column without a thought. His heart was racing and his eyes were urgent, but the guards who saw him didn't say a word to blow his cover – Princess Toothiana appeared out of nowhere on her fast feet.
She looked distraught. "Kŏr thôt, sir? (excuse me?)"
The guard she called attention to paused and bowed gently for the short princess. His local accent was thick and soft in her presence.
(Thai) "Your highness, how are you?"
"I'm fine. Still little achy, and kinda hungry."
The sound of her familiar voice without a twinge of pain or fear lifted his heart and crushed his insides. Jack gritted his teeth and pressed himself harder into the white marble, listening with acute concentration. He heard her exhale between her lips.
"Would you like something to be brought to your–"
"Noo, I told you that I can get food myself! I'm not dying. I'm just out because I need something from you."
"What is wrong, your highness?"
Tooth pursed her lips thoughtfully and tilted her head. She felt like a weirdo (more than she normally did) but knew the anxiety inside wouldn't stop – plus it didn't hurt to ask him; sometimes the royal Hypunjam guards were more knowledgeable than most nobles gave their protectors credit. She smiled at the thought – something Jack missed and wanted to see. As the two began to talk in the island language he could never hope to understand, Jack sighed and leaned his head back against the stone. He held his crutch to him tightly.
The hours were waning, but every nerve in him was shot and he didn't even know what she looked like. How was her skin? How was her hair? Her eyes? He couldn't–
"Find someone?" the guard repeated in English.
Jack froze and the guard bent slightly to be at a better level with the short princess. As he asked, another guard joined them in the inquiry.
"Princess Thia, you are looking for someone?" he asked warily. The ELFs and the royal court had already alerted them of Tooth's sensitive amnesia. But it was going to be hard considering–
"Chí," and in a flash, Tooth was behind them without a sound.
The two men jumped slightly at her new ability to be quicker than any man but she smirked slightly and stood on the balls of her feet. Tooth nodded timidly before she caught herself suddenly and stretched her neck up higher. The guard was mildly surprised by her change in nature, but he was proud nonetheless.
"At least I think?" she finally commented and lifted up her scratch paper to show them her...thing. The men stared at the zigzags curiously – Tooth shared none of Tuhina's art skills, that was clear. One guard scratched his head.
"I do not understand, Cêā h̄ỵing," he glanced a little higher and stared at the two circles. "What is this pi..."
He stopped just as Tooth started to explain, watching Jack's spiky wisping hair peek out from behind the column nervously – his blue eyes were wide like orbs, and everything seemed to fit on paper.
They paled slightly at the mention – and with Jack's perception, he pinned the two down instantly.
"I mean, see here?" Tooth blabbed on unknowingly. "I think these are eyes. I've been drawing them for hours and I thought they were lights and I know it's late, but now it's sorta different and I had to ask someone! Do you know anyone with blue eyes since I returned?"
Jack's heart was racing and only at the last second did he manage to stop himself from poking his head again around the column. His fingers made the marble cold with a twitch and the guards felt the uneven breeze from his direction. Tooth felt it too, but as she turned with a curious gaze–
"Do you mean the ELF Chief, Nicolas St. North?" one of them coughed quickly. "The one who helped rescue you?"
Tooth whipped her head back at him.
The three stared at each other in long silence... but after a while, the hopeful gaze in Tooth's eyes dimmed and her flame went out.
"Uh... no. I-I mean, thank you, yes he has blue eyes," she laughed lightly to comfort their strange nervousness and they relaxed slightly.
"But..."
She barely knew the strange big man with the thickest Russian accent she'd ever heard in her life. He was like a stranger to her, but from all the stories she'd heard, he'd fought valiantly for her and beside her as she did her best alongside him. Tooth felt uncomfortable with the ELFs too, despite how suave, loyal and (dare she say) attractive some of them were.
Toothiana lowered her head to the floor.
"But no... I'm sorry, that's not him… He's not the one I'm looking for."
"What about this..." the guard then made his finger go up and down to explain the lines but Tooth shrugged and frowned.
"I don't know."
"We're sorry, Princess," they answered gently. "But if it is not the ELF Chief, then there is no one else."
Lying to her through their teeth was harder than anything they could stomach – they knew the beloved Princess had been lied to her entire life now that the truth was out, and she'd gone to hell and back because of it. Lying to her again felt like another stain on her great name and beautiful personality. But when they bit their lips and she looked away, they had nothing more to say. They each threw Jack a subtle glance again, putting two and two together.
"Alright," she sighed sadly.
Jack looked ahead and pretended she wasn't only twenty feet away from him. He curled his fist in tightly as she spoke.
"Well, thank you," she said politely and she turned with her strong leg already raised.
"Princess, wait!" But Tooth was already halfway down the hall in the blink of an eye with the warm breeze on her heels – they knew they would never keep up. With a loud sigh, they signaled for Jack to come out and he hobbled over, slow and mechanical.
The guards looked at him sternly. "Is it... you?"
Jack kept his head bent. His respect for them was apparent but his patience ran thin.
"I don't want her to see me," he reminded them hotly as they looked down at his white hair in awe – they'd heard the soldiers who'd been there to get the girls. Stories about a white-haired man who could turn the storm and a man in a coma who could bring down twenty Hypunjam guards with his bare hands were now gossiped among them. But they saw his pain in relation to Toothiana, and they worried they'd cause deeper trouble with this mysterious man.
"Should she see you," one added softly. "Everything she remembers about the Queen and her sisters will be lost too. We must cherish everything she knows and has forgiven about her birth and her skills."
Jack nodded sullenly.
"I know."
"And if she remembers you and risks it all," the other finished. "Then what hope is there for her heritage, her sanity... she might never forgive anyone again if she finds out another way–"
"I know."
They stopped immediately as Jack cut him off, but the ex-operative breathed heavily and rubbed his neck in embarrassment.
"Ko thod-ka (I'm sorry)," he muttered his apology in the minimal Thai he was taught by North in their last meet. They nodded with appreciation. "It's just stressful to think about after everything we..."
They nodded in understanding, even though Jack meant something completely different to what they believed him to be explaining.
"We will do our best not to tell her anything until it comes back to her?"
He nodded.
"She can't go looking for answers."
But oh if he only knew...
...
Hypunjam Palace grand halls, 11:34 p.m.
The day was ending early, as it always did in Punjam Hy Loo. It left with a delicate orange horizon and the sun sparkled on the Bengali sea like a jewel, but preparations had already commenced for the award ceremony that would happen the next day.
The castle was already preparing for the entire duration of the princess' coma, but even though the Lulus would have preferred to celebrate her and her handmaidens' rescue for the entire week, Nicolas St. North had already agreed with Prince Tanvir that he and his men could no longer stay as long as they originally thought.
They'd only stayed for Toothiana, and now that she was awake, they had to return to Europe. All the posts of the ELF organization needed to be attended to, especially during their most critical time of the holiday season – with Pitch and the Nightmares gone, the remainder of their brothers still needed their own celebration and funerals, and many other missions had not yet ended. So North, Phil, and Aster knew they could not stay – even Jack knew – but they would come back once Tooth had remembered everything.
Well... if she remembered everything. But it didn't go without saying that their presence had an enormous effect on Tooth's palace. The workers and court alike were fascinated and grateful to Tooth's new friends even if she, the one who mattered most to all of them, could only vaguely remember why they were important to her in the first place.
BT knew from Tooth's chatters and ramblings during their short time together after she awoke that she remembered –in pieces– being in Pitch's main headquarters, under his grip while he taunted her sisters and the large Australian who was with them. But then the ELFs came through the roof and she'd injected herself... and the wind blew everything away, including her... and that was it.
"Is it a face? What if it's a vector from a graph? I–Gah!" Tooth scratched her head with both hands and sighed angrily. She stopped skipping instantly and looked at the ceiling..
"Crapzilla, nothing makes sense," she whined. "I can't even explain to anyone how I feel and what I'm thinking...not unless I wanna end up back in my bed and staring into post-traumatic space."
Which she detested at the moment since she wanted to go back to being happy and helping out with the ceremony for tomorrow. But no one wanted her involved, and she was conspiring theories like a mad woman on her own.
'There's nowhere to GO from here,' and Toothiana glanced down at the crumpled sheet filled with zigzags in her hand.
She caught the blue from the circle... the iris from the eye.
She frowned.
Tooth looked around for a second before she smirked sadly and lifted her skirt slightly. Then with a quick ruffle of her hair, she sprinted away on near silent feet and moved with the speed of a bird. Her senses were all over the place, and her gene plucked a string deep inside her stomach that filled her with warmth and energy. She smiled in the breezy hall, never thinking she'd get used to it. Then–
Tooth abruptly stopped and tiptoed at regular speed again down the new hallway, across the wing. When she was sure there was no one around, she twirled gracefully and shimmied up a small alcove behind a large column she'd known about for years. Her hair ruffled atop her head and she blinked, flashing light across her irises before she looked through into each handmaiden's eyes...
"Are you going to help me read that story again tonight, Mr. Sandy?" Tulia yawned in excitement and Sanderson nodded his head and closed his door behind him. He then followed Tooth's little sister back to her room to help her to bed.
Now that all the danger was over, Sandy felt his protectiveness rise over Tooth's clones- their need for comfort was apparent and around the clock. Everyone was still affected by all the trauma and he made it his duty to be there for each of them as much as he could until Tooth was completely better. Earlier during the day, she'd helped take care of them and give them company (and it helped her too, considering she was the prime target) but most nights, Sandy took the weight of the responsibility and watched over everyone – not that he ever minded.
When Tulia squeezed his hand and started talking about learning Braille again, he was reminded of the same old affection he felt for the girls he'd sworn to take over and help grow.
Once they were gone around the corner, Tooth smirked and dropped from the high ledge on her hands and knees, then tiptoed swiftly over to his bedroom door. She expertly used a lock pick set (which she'd requested from the castle blacksmith) to open the door. She'd never used a pick in her life but she'd somehow remembered seeing it being done somewhere and just tried until she got it right – which wasn't all that long since she got in on the first go.
Opening the silent doors easily – they were always oiled by the castle workers so that Sanderson could sneak out (and Tooth finally knew why he did) – the princess smiled and slinked over to his desk covered in reports. She looked and lifted things around in a rush, crunched for time and frazzled out of her mind.
Her dreams wouldn't let her rest. Her Nightmares were just as terrible.
Tooth quickly opted to go looking through his trash, not giving two cents of a shit as strange things flew out, and grabbed whatever tiny crumpled sheet she laid eyes on. She huffed gently – it was the worst spy mission in history, but her coping habit was coming through and it wouldn't let her rest, not until she had another sheet in her hand.
When the images of spikes and swirling lines were starting to come back, Tooth bit down her lip desperately. "Come on, come on, no... not here!"
When she finally decided that she'd overstayed her welcome, Tooth scrunched her eyebrows and scanned each paper on the desk, committing to memory how they rested. She didn't dare touch one until she was absolutely sure she needed it and she could place each sheet back in the way they were so none looked out of place.
Then with a broad smirk, Tooth yanked a couple sheets that seemed to call out to her and some from the bottom before disappearing out of the room again. She made sure no scent was left, no sound, no change in room temperature before she locked the door again and–
Her hair ruffled in alert.
In a rush, Tooth sprinted back into a small alcove just as her senses went flaring. Her eyes were wide and almost comical and her heart was racing – two seconds after she'd pressed herself close into the wall, the guards walked past her, completely unaware of her presence in the shadows. Once they were gone, Tooth huffed silently and smiled behind her hand. She then looked down at the sheets in tight frustration.
Flight plans to random destinations, gun detail, ELF numbers, Nightmare activity, a massive satellite capture of a storm development. Her heart was jumping... Maybe there was a storm in hers too.
Tooth quickly vanished to her room.
...
2:02 a.m.
Toothiana left again a few more rounds around the palace, maybe because getting as little sleep as she did since she got kidnapped made her an insomniac just like Mr. Sandy. By the end of the guards' fourth shifts, she had over thirteen sheets they'd naively given to her for 'princess reasons', stolen from easily infiltrated briefing rooms and exposed table tops.
After a while, the more papers she stole, the more she realised that the sun would come up soon and so she decided to stay in her room. She promised to rest before the big award ceremony but with her sheets scattered all around her, drawing up her own notes on who was missing and the ones who no one seemed to care enough about, she couldn't sleep. She felt like she was studying for a big test at times, lying on her rug near the fireplace and ruffling her hair again and again.
Unfortunately there was little to be recorded, only what North and his ELFs had done on missions... but Tooth swore there was more. Something inside her ached over it and she couldn't figure out why, because it was apparent that all the facts were there. It was only that the story, the one haunting her past, had simply vanished and she knew it. Even while she enjoyed going on her little 'recon missions' and tricking the guards into giving her sheets (on her uncle's command, or Sandy's discretion) as she left with a little spring in her quick step and her blonde streak floating behind her... she knew.
And Jack held onto that, even as he caught her eyes in his weakened shadows and felt the loss as she turned away from him to go.
He coughed into his dark shirt and shut his eyes. Jack uncorked his third vial of Tooth's biotic that night and downed it like water – there were three to go.
Jack rubbed his side tenderly but he never rested, even as shitty as a part of him still felt and even after he pulled the pieces of gauze away and gave the crutch back to the scientists. The guards who saw him later dropped their jaws to the floor.
"Jack," one of his stealth ELFs asked in his complink. "You haven't been back in an hour. You alright?"
Jack stared at the spot where Tooth had been and glared softly.
"Yeah, just... tell North I'll be there. I don't need a babysitter, but she certainly does."
And it was true – he couldn't believe what he was realizing as he'd watch her leave the guards with highly classified documents like they were a shopping list. Toothiana had picked up a lot of tricks fromhim. And she didn't even know it.
She was incredibly fast, a charmer, and dipped away with a newfound confidence under her skin and in her flexible body that left him breathless... and more frustrated than ever. Tooth was embracing her new center gene with strength and agility and he couldn't believe how good she was at the sneak and spy game. He guessed that she really did get it from her mother – well, she always did have it in her all along. But this determination to find out about the things she was obviously suspicious about didn't help the castle's (or Tooth's own) situation.
Toothiana was trying to rush into remembering things about... about events that happened before the night of Pitch, before December 27th, and while he desperately wanted her to remember it all, to remember him... he knew she had to ease herself into it, the way he had – the way she had helped him to. There was no telling what she'd do to herself if she shoved all this information about how she swore she remembered how Prime Minister Ty died, or how Tuhina had been kidnapped while she ended up stuck in a church by the sea. All the things that should have been significant (but weren't) were because Tooth's feelings were crawling up, smothering her recollection and twisting her realities.
So he had to step in.
He had to be ruthless.
...
2:51 a.m.
"The report!"
Tooth shrieked but she backed away from the fireplace. The strong breeze had ripped it from the guard's hand and she watched it burn forever.
"Not again!"
And Jack was gone behind the pillar, rolling his eyes and sipped his second vial when his gene felt like it was going splinter inside.
He took a deep breath. Re-stealing files she'd stolen or distracting her while he hid in plain sight was harder when he was still healing but it was manageable.
Shadowing Tooth was always fun, even when it sorta pissed him off.
He'd listen to her talk about seeing things or being confused by something around her and he even watched her freeze up in the middle of a conversation or a walk, looking like she was standing in another place, another world. And it hurt because what if it was the bleeding effect? What if everything about their adventure, the thing that made her stronger, would ultimately be the thing that destroyed her?
So he couldn't risk it, not for her family, not for the kingdom... not even for her own sake.
...
North's room, 3:17 a.m.
"Sookin sy–"
"Izvinite," Jack hissed from his crouch by the fireplace to a very distracted Nicolas St. North.
"Jack!"
"Sorry! But you're right... She's lurking."
And the Cossack rose from red armchair. "Are you serious!?" he whispered. "So... So soon?"
"Set, Nic. It's true," Jack sighed and pulled up from his crouch to stand by the room's tables that were littered with North's ELF reports. He then leaned against one and crossed his arms.
"Souda (Here)," the Cossack then tossed Jack a Glock G21. Jack caught the handgun effortlessly and immediately his mind went into a relaxed, concentrated state as he started to disassemble the empty firearm and clean it to calm his nerves.
As North watched, Jack said nothing. The crease in his forehead faded a little in his peace, not to mention the nightly air. He loved the breeze that rustled through the palace balconies and the halls at this time of night. They were always cooler than he'd expected for a Southeast Asian country and he loved the slight chill it brought to his lungs after such a long, hot day. It made him appreciate Punjam more.
He bit the inside of his cheek.
"Tooth can... really move," he commented as he inspected the barrel and North nodded a little fondly.
"Da, is result of Pitch's biotic. Her mutation makes her muscle fiber IIa now. Cell generation too."
When a wave of fear splashed over Jack's face instantly, Nicolas waved a hand.
"Is all right, Jack," he sighed. "Is what saved her. If anything you should be grateful she did not..."
North didn't want to finish. Jack didn't want him to. In the end, the two Winter-Divsion operatives looked away. "I apologize," the man in his late fifties finally mumbled.
Jack turned his gaze to the fireplace instead.
"She's pretty good at stealth and gathering intel," he said. "I'll give her that."
Nic furrowed his thick eyebrows. "Have you not been able to track her then?"
Jack scoffed.
"Of course," he tested. "I'm a GUARDIAN, remember? And I've been doing this for years. I'm still faster than she is and she's still a messy escape artist. Her fingerprints are everywhere."
Jack glared into the fire and as his blue eyes narrowed, the orange flames turned them almost green. Aster had lit it earlier for the ELF Chief before he went back to his own room, his computer work, and his worry over their princess.
"And," North started again, "how are you, Jack?"
"How do you think I feel? My gene subconsciously trapped me in my own ability and all of our centers practically burned out for Pitch," Jack sighed. "Not to forget that I woke up thinking I'd gone to hell, only to find this is state worse!"
North frowned.
"But you are in one piece, your gene slowed your body down to protect you. And we do not fully understand the severity of Thia's amnesia."
"Well whatever she's doing, her activity is really high. I'm just saying that she can move and steal and trick everyone into thinking she's not digging for answers. I'm destroying the evidence she collects by making it look like a natural accident, but I'm getting tired of..."
Jack ran his hand through his hair.
"The North wind isn't strong here, and even though I can move around I... I don't even think Sandy is aware."
"He is aware," North confessed.
Jack stopped and looked at him with confusion.
"Then why isn't he doing anything to stop her, or say anything to... I'm basically doing this on my own here. I don't even want to."
"Sandy has his reasons," North said gently and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder when the GUARDIAN looked away. "Besides, he is too busy watching after the princess' sisters, helping get through pain. You know this."
Jack nodded as he started to reassemble the gun parts together. He already knew that couldn't respect the silent man any less.
"But what about you, or Cottontail over there?" Jack sighed. "You knew before I did what happened," he gestured to the room beyond the closed door.
"Barely," North smiled a little and his age showed slightly in his wrinkled face. "Only just before you came through door... Besides, we cannot help. Tooth feels uncomfortable again around Bunny and me... she no longer remembers the trust we have built together. Or this family."
North's smile slipped off his face as Jack watched, his eyes wide with a constant burn.
"How did it get this bad...How?" he finally breathed. "What do we do?"
North looked at the door, beyond to where Aster was most likely typing with a brooding look on his face. He frowned deeply.
"Bunny is making sure to copy every report we have and send it over to main divisions. We cannot risk anymore lost records because you push them into fire."
The slight edge in the Chief's tone made Jack look away with a hard face.
"No," Nicolas countered. "You do what is necessary for Thia."
At the mention of her public name, Jack dragged his gaze down to the carpet. The flames flickered light across his strong features and pale skin like artwork.
He put the gun down and exhaled gently through his nose.
"Until we leave tomorrow, you mean."
He hated to say it, but not saying it meant he denied that he was leaving... even though every ache in Jack's muscles didn't want him to accept it.
North bent his head gently like the first time he told Jack about Tooth.
"Set, Jack,"the Russian answered.
Jack turned abruptly and pretended to give himself a sip of the cold vodka that North requested since his stay. The sweat on the glass was quickly painted in frost designs under his long fingers.
"Whatever happens after today, Nic..."
North lifted his head and Jack was suddenly standing two inches from him... and he grasped his large hand with a gentle squeeze.
Jack said nothing. North was stilled into shocked silence until he eventually got up and bent to give Jack a short embrace.
And when Jack finally turned away, North shut his eyes and dropped his chin.
...
Jack left after that without a word. North didn't stop him. He knew there was only one place the restless winter spy wanted to be.
Jack moved quickly to catch up with her. He knew once he left North that Tooth would have vanished again, but it wasn't hard to predict her next move and thankfully, she'd locked herself in this time. She wasn't planning on leaving anymore.
Jack expertly scaled the open ceilings in the hallway and flipped over the gigantic roof tiles until he was suspended over her balcony again. That's when he suddenly paused and stopped himself from leaning out all the way as he crouched atop the her balcony's awning.
"...getting better... 'm just trying protect it..."
Her voice had carried itself up to him and he hadn't even reached her room yet.
He'd Jack knew that if he could, he would get some serious remodeling done to these poor security access points... Or at least, better protection for the royal family. Huh, family... as if Tooth had a family of one hundred. There were two Hypunjams left, she and her uncle.
Just like the Overlands...
Just like him and Emma.
Emma would've loved you.
He shut his eyes.
"...s'it someone...head doesn't get it... but my body does..."
Her voice immediately drifted up to his ears.
With a quickened pulse, the operative scaled down silently behind one of the wide open, glass balcony doors and held his breath. A cold breeze whistled loudly to cover his gentle fall. He then pressed a hand on it and pushed it away slightly as he bent his head to cover his face in shadow. And Jack frowned...
Tooth was on the balcony too.
She rubbed her arms and stared out at the rainforest and the sea. She looked incredibly tired and Jack was scared that she would fall asleep stood upright at any moment.
She was also drawing zigzags on another sheet of paper on the ledge, remembering the circles and frowning when it was like she supposed to be remembering more and more... but she still hadn't put a word to it, and every time she mentioned him to Baby Tooth, Sandy or her sisters, she had an incredible headache or spaced out entirely.
He always lifted a finger to his lips when they caught sight of him, and their mouths zipped shut and they'd turn away in case she was watching through their eyes.
Jack suddenly heard Tooth stop. She rubbed her head, then with a loud crumple, she ripped the sheet to shreds and dumped the pieces around her. Her mouth fell open in despair and she looked up at the midnight sky– at least the stars was bright. Eyes wide and glittering like magentas, Toothiana counted each one and loved the way they shined.
There were so many... and you could never see them like this in a heavily populated, urban city where the smog and car pollution choked the air. Kind of like Moscow...
Wait, had she ever been to Russia?
Tooth stopped rubbing her eyes. Her fingers shook gently. She then rolled in her lips to stop from frowning again and bent her head. Her streak blew over her eyelashes as she looked at the floor.
"I'm tired of waiting... I don't want to be lost anymore."
That's my center. But what is yours?
Tooth gulped deeply.
"I know you're there!"
Jack went still.
His face drained of colour, but...
Tooth squeezes her eyes shut.
"I've n'ver b-been more sure about anything in my life and okay, m-ma... maybe there is a bigger plan for me."
She opened her hand and looked into her left palm.
"But it's like... getting caught in a tide and getting pulled out to sea! A-And something, whatever you are, you... you keep calling me from some distant shore that I'll never see again–"
She put her fist in her mouth and gritted her teeth.
"I-I'm getting cold."
Jack said nothing, lost in the meaning of her words and silently screaming her name in his throat. He covered his mouth when a cough threatened to jump out instead.
He shut his eyes.
"But you're there and I know I... Ch-That's why I'm trying to raise you on a pedestal. You d-deserve it and I need to see you, make sense of you, of... what once was mine."
"So j...just..." then Tooth pushed her hands into her hair, "...just come back! Help me remember."
Something in Jack was crumbling and he bitterly reached for his third vial.
But then Tooth clasped her hands together, her skin was smooth and small – but she swore something should have been there. Like a mark... or another hand. She rolled her eyes at herself.
'Oh, how romantic.'
Of course, leave it to her to think that she should have had someone to hold hands with during her kidnapping. There was no romance in hostage situations and sure, her rescuers were tall and handsome – heck, even that Edmund guy was smart and cute – but she couldn't really see herself with anyone at the moment.
Despite herself, she tightened her fist and huffed out a nightly island breath.
"Man, I really hit my head."
Tooth laughed lightly to herself but then she squeezed her arms for warmth and walked closer to the edge of the balcony.
"Don't go dreaming up guys, Tooth," she mumbled sadly to herself. "Maybe some day. Because...s-someone out there's gonna wait for you and you won't have to dream anymore."
Jack dropped his chin to the floor, falling back against the wall and tiredly swallowing the biotic. He still had one more to go; and Jack frowned deeper.
His stature calm but god knew how shaky his insides were, especially when she shrugged it all away and turned her back to him like he was a piece of her sad imagination.
"No more guys, T. But until then..."
He lifted his gaze and watched her smile slip off her face with a determined expression.
"Let's just figure out what they're all trying to hide from you," she huffed and spun on her heels with a quick stretch of her arms over her head. "You can figure this out. You're the daughter of a GUARDIAN... it's in you to spy."
And Jack watched her go straight to work on everything about North and Aster...
For about 30 minutes.
...
3:31 a.m.
The night breeze rustled Tooth's papers under her arms and her head. She had slight bags under her eyes and her light snores were heard as she lay slumped on the beautiful rug in front of her cold fireplace. The embers inside were dying to nothing after being out for nearly an hour, but Tooth slept on with wild dreams of flickers of eyes and hands that sent her cheeks blushing and her chest aching with despair.
She vowed not to give up before she stopped to rest under all her notes. Suspicions and secrets were what tore her family apart in the first place and even though it was for her protection, she knew they were doing it again. So rather than wait around for someone to tell her the truth, she knew she had to do it for herself, no matter what the consequences.
And Jack watched with a sad smile, hanging upside down with his bangs falling away from his forehead.
He stared at her until all the blood rushing to his head made her blurry and an ache started again in his brain. He then frowned, flexing one of his hands and sighing softly in the island draft. There was no ice anywhere to create, no water he could manipulate or North wind to lift him and his spirits.
So with a tight and silent twist, Jack pushed himself back up over the edge of her balcony's roof and rolled sideways onto his stomach instead. He braced himself on his arms and looked out toward the sea with a dark frown. Jack couldn't lie to himself anymore and he knew it...
He felt broken all over again... or, at least to the breaking point of it anyway.
Tooth was down there, in all her protection, safety, good health, and... but after everything they'd been through, the things they'd seen, the emotions they'd exchanged, she wasn't there. She was just...
Jack clenched his jaw angrily and bent his head into his arms. He squeezed his eyes shut in exhaustion and felt his chest shudder under his dark shirt.
"Come on, Tooth," he whispered, but he knew only the wind would hear him. "Come on."
Jack was fine if the rest of the world wanted to forget him, wanted to pretend like he didn't exist – he'd been fine with it, living that way for years and acting like it didn't bother him. Jack could accept if anyone forgot about him... but not her...
Not Toothiana. Not all the shit he put up with for her and that tiny little ribbon she'd wrapped around his finger like a band aid.
He couldn't let her.
Without another thought, Jack pushed himself up from the roof and stood up. A moment later, he was silently crouching on her balcony with his hands on either side of his boots. He frowned to himself, catching her silhouette in the distance on the floor. She might never remember him... not ever.
Jack swallowed a large lump in his throat.
Tooth would probably just move on with her life, having that adventure with him trapped and locked away in her head forever until the day came when it was either too late, or she was with someone... starting a new life with new nights to come.
But if this was his last night, the last night he would ever get to be alone with her...
Jack exhaled shakily and got up from the marble floor.
He made sure to be extra careful as he moved, knowing how heightened her senses were now, thanks to her gene mutation, and he couldn't risk anything with her anymore – except this one moment.
Padding like a cat, Jack's lean figure moved across her bedroom, extending shadows and cool breezes that kissed his hair and licked Tooth's bare arms. He deftly pulled the papers out from under her and blew them into her fireplace to burn away while his heart nearly twisted in on itself.
Jack glanced back at her.
Tooth was wearing the same white summer dress he'd imagined her with in his dream, the night the bleeding effect took hold of him... when there were summer flowers... and her cheek was so soft. But unlike then, this Tooth – the real one – couldn't be touched, couldn't be woken.
She still lit up his world, though.
Jack stopped just short of her with all the papers rustling. His eyes widened in the growing fears he was committing onto himself as he took her in.
Her pink earbuds from her iPod were still playing beside her, loud enough for him to hear. Tooth's messy bun was still atop her head but her streak was out and long against her cheek, longer than he'd ever remembered. He didn't know how long it was since she always kept it up since he arrived but Jack guessed it was from the gene. He studied her face – smooth and coffee skinned – and flawless of any dark vein or tear he remembered seeing...
She would always stop time for him.
The strong breeze finally came in and Jack frowned openly and shut his eyes. He listened to her soft breathing and wondered what pieces of him were still left in her heart.
Jack opened his eyes.
With a gentle sigh, he bent on one knee and glanced behind him with a frown. Tooth shook slightly in her sleep and frowned gently.
This was it. This was all he was to her – just a broken thought – and as much as it shouldn't have hurt, no one could disagree with Jack that it was rightfully felt. For everything she did to him, from the running and pushing, to her kicks, nagging, and her natural adorkableness, he ended up at the edges of her mind where he always would... like he was to everyone else.
Jack looked back down at her.
Moving slow and quick, the ex-operative quickly snaked his hands under her and moved her into his arms. He said nothing and turned his palms into the crook of her knees and around her waist like a person who couldn't be disturbed. He then stood up easily and carried her bridal style back to her bed. Tooth was light and molded into him perfectly, her size meant for him. Her head rested against his heart and she slept on without a care.
Jack's heart raced. His desire for her burned hotter than he'd ever thought possible and he couldn't breathe.
He missed her.
But with each step, Jack knew his time with Tooth was running shorter and shorter – and she didn't even know it. He refused to look at her, and couldn't really hold her like he wanted to. He held her away from him slightly, almost afraid that his touch would break her like the glass she thought she sometimes was.
But Tooth wasn't glass to him, nor anyone else. She was iron, she was steel, and even though she didn't believe that he knew she was like the earth that kept everyone together. So Jack moved her delicately and fast. All the papers behind them lay on the floor, still pieces of her determination and growing skill – but he knew he'd have to take everything she gathered tonight and discard them. Still...
Even if she only remembered him as a vague phantom in her mind, it meant something to him that she even had a little shred of him left in her memory that she was desperately trying to hang onto.
But all that trying... it would only erase him entirely. She needed to let it happen the way it was meant to, whether it was so that he'd come back to her when her mind was finally ready and all the flashes would play out on their own... or–
Suddenly, he felt her squirm slightly under his cold fingers. Jack bit the inside of his cheek and moved even quicker. When he finally reached her bedside however, he stopped.
His grip on Tooth grew a little tight.
Without stopping himself, Jack looked sideways at everything in her room that made Tooth who she was. The returned photos, the funny trinkets, the beautiful hand crafts, the colorful fabrics and the gold... it was all her, and he could never see it again.
Tooth shivered in his arms again and Jack looked down immediately.
She frowned deeper, unable to subconsciously recognize the position she was in and without a second thought, he quickly moved her onto her bed and let go. His fingers were shaking as they left her warm skin behind.
Tooth remembered the bed instantly and rolled onto her side away from Jack. He watched in silence as she grabbed around for a sheet and pulled it over the lower half of her body to cover her legs.
Jack frowned and reached to pull the rest of the blanket over her shoulders, his fingers lingering on the soft skin and catching the scar that the bullet had left behind on her arm.
"You'll be okay," he whispered above his breath. "You'll be okay, but... I..."
Jack dropped his head and sighed.
Then being very careful, he leaned in closer and rested his temple against hers. Her warm skin sent a warm flourish through his, making him exhale shakily and nearly get on the bed behind her just to feel more. But this was as far as he would go – he could press his head against her, and jump away at any moment, disappearing faster than she could blink but he couldn't stay.
Jack relaxed atop her, his cheek almost on hers and his bangs spilling into her hair. Then he spoke at the deepest octave, sending calm washing over her and distorting her senses.
"I did come back," Jack frowned. "I'm right here...and yet, look. What did I do to you?"
Jack bit the inside of his cheek.
"What did I do to us? I was the one cracking, and falling apart, and when you came, you just had to be you and be 'Little Miss Crazy', the one who wanted to pick up the pieces and put me back together. Then when I turned around, and I was going to give you... everything you needed... and I broke you... you shattered into a hundred pieces."
He glared at the wall ahead of them.
"I... am right here, T, and I'd tell you to do it again. To prove them wrong, but...this time, I-I don't know. No one does, not even you, so m..."
Jack tried to start again, but he froze when her breathing started to grow slow and even again as she fell into a calmer sleep and disappeared from the world entirely.
His eyebrows scrunched together.
"It shouldn't be for me, okay? You have bigger plans...and Burgess boys don't get happy endings, remember? Maybe one day, bu'... because..."
But the right words never came back – and Jack shut his eyes.
He wanted to say that he'd do anything for her. He wanted to say that he'd wait to the end of time if that's what she wanted or needed... and he wanted to tell her that she was, without a doubt, the best thing that had ever happened to him, the best surprise he'd ever fallen onto, and that kidnapping her had been the adventure of a lifetime. Because even with all her impossible sass and her ability to drive him up the wall... he wouldn't have changed a thing.
Instead, Jack reached over. He lifted her blonde streak away from her face and pushed it behind her ear. Her eyelids fluttered and he leaned down to her ear.
"Not for me, Tooth," he whispered with a sad smile before it slipped off his face.
He shut his eyes.
"...not for me."
And he meant it.
From kingdom come, until the sun rose in East and fell in the west, Jack meant it.
...
Toothiana's eyes flew open and she sat up in a hurry.
She looked around in a daze with her clammy skin and racing heart beating more rapidly than usual. The sky was still dark and the breeze was still loud coming from her wide balcony. As it came through, her blanket slid from her shoulders and her skin exploded with goosebumps... and a pleasant flush stretched across her chest.
Tooth gasped.
She whipped her head left to right and suddenly felt incredibly sad. The images from her dreams were still fresh in her mind and they'd stayed longer than normal. The boy came back into her head again, stronger this time... and she was sure that a scent lingered. It wasn't long before she realised that her cheeks were wet and her chest was aching. She laughed bitterly to herself and wiped them away before the world could see.
But it still hurt and with every heartbeat that passed, Tooth wished more and more that he was real or that, at least, the amazing pieces of a story in her head that no one seemed to know had actually happened, leaving her open and horribly exposed to a man who was never there.
Tooth touched her lips.
But that's what Hypunjams had – big hearts, and vulnerable ones too – and she pulled up her knees to her chest and pressed her chin to it. Hearing her sister's through her sight, she listened as she clutched her head and curled into her protective fetal position.
Tatiana was still awake. She was mumbling, drifting into nothing.
"–'t c'ming b'ck," BT breathed shakily. "Sh...he's not coming back."
When she came back, she realised her cheeks were wet and shining in the moonlight, but the nightmares grew worse.
Tooth bent her head and hiccupped softly, and still... she didn't understand a thing.
...
7 hours later
Royal robe room, 10:22 a.m.
Silks and fabric rich with color littered the couches and pillows and the tables were covered in jewelry, most made of stunning gold. It dazzled as the sun shone on everything. It made the room glow, the only room in the Hypunjam Palace that saw the most excitement except the day Tooth's sisters moved around her silent and heavyhearted.
Their royal was stiff and stood on the center pad with her fingers twitching and her head down. Toothiana was dressed in the most beautiful rainbow dress she'd ever worn – a gift put together by all the designers on the island while she was missing. They wanted to make sure that when she got back, her wardrobe would be new and stylish.
It reflected in it too, she'd expected a traditional sari like she normally wore for royal events in the castle, but they took a more modern twist and gave her the most well-fitted combination of fabric, flow and color. Every regular castle maid who had managed to stop in to see it were in love and told Tooth how amazingly different she looked.
But Tooth didn't really hear anything past her qualms. Even as Tiana came in and helped put on their chosen assortment of bracelets onto her limp wrists – she frowned up at her sister.
Tiana could still hear Jack yelling for her that night in Wales before the fire started. She looked away quickly and moved back to find Tooth's shoes – not to mention her own.
As they primped her and helped her look her best, Tooth moved on autopilot. Everything felt like it was trying to bubble back up to the surface and smack her across the face... but she couldn't piece it together and the world felt like it was suddenly closing in around her.
What happened to the adventure? What happened to all the fighting? What happened to her? It was gone, it was all over and everyone she cared about was alive and safe and after a few more hours, she was going back to the way it was before.
Normal.
Isn't that what she wanted?
Isn't that what she wanted for everyone too?
But... was everyone even here?
Tooth blinked several times and watched as the embroidered carpet below her turned blurry. She lifted her head and tried to poke her tears gently with the back of her left hand.
There was no way she'd ruin Tia's mascara job and run ink down her face just for them to do it again.
"Toothie."
Tooth stopped her train of thought and looked at Tiati. With a fake smile, Tooth dropped to eye-level with her youngest clone.
"What's up?" she asked gently and the eight-year-old looked at her for a long time. Tooth stared back and wondered if Tiati had developed super sensitive hearing and could hear her heart beating in her ribcage like a bird. Maybe she was like Agent Edmund the GUARDIAN, hearing things she shouldn't.
The thought made her smile genuine.
Tooth tilted her head and grinned softly. "What?"
Tiati blinked.
A second later, the tiny sister lifted what she was holding in her hand.
"The crown," she squeaked. "Can I put it on you now?"
Tooth looked at her for a long time before she nodded and closed her eyes. Then she bent her head forward and felt as Tiati's tiny hands expertly placed her formal crown atop her head and its gold charm along her hairline to hide her jumping roots.
When it was done, Tiati moved sideways and placed a jeweled pin on one side of Tooth's bun. Her gold streak was long enough now to be pulled straight up the center of her hair and into her large bun like a perfect plume.
Tiati smiled and sniffled a little.
"I like it," she finished.
"Me too," Tooth grinned. "You missed it, huh?"
"Chi..."
Then Tiati moved in for a hug and shivered with a tiny sigh.
"...but I miss you more."
And Tooth's heart cracked a little more under her dress. Tiati said miss... but she knew it wasn't a mistake.
As the little girl hugged her big sister, she caught 'Mr. Aster' walking passed the crack in the robe door on the way from his post. He caught her sad look and put his finger to his lips – Tiati waved back but then squeezed Tooth tighter.
She closed her eyes.
...
Royal throne room, 11:31 a.m.
The award ceremony was announced by royal council and carried out by the court. Every worker in the palace was present and while the door was partially open to let some people in, a selected few from The Hummingbird were invited to document and film the event. As they did, a live broadcast was transmitted across the island on their own channel, so the Lulus were going to be glued to their TV sets all afternoon.
High and strong, they listened to their Prince Regent conduct his opening speech, learning about the efforts that were undertaken, receiving the palace's thanks, and assuring their strength as a country. Then he finally presented Toothiana, the long-awaited Crown Princess and heir-apparent, who'd been missing for a full week, but rescued and healed by all those responsible for her saving. The island went nuts when she gracefully moved in and hugged Prince Tanvir like she didn't want to let go again, then after he spoke of Tooth's own efforts and how much she'd changed, she gave her brief statements, apologies, and immense gratitude to everyone. After that it was like she couldn't see straight.
All the eyes were on her as she moved away from the podium and her eyes started to tingle again.
She sniffled silently and strutted back up to her throne, beside her uncle's. The ceremony continued on silent and heavy – at least to Tooth. She didn't really hear what was being said by the council and the chiefs of the national security organizations that were secretly informed and invited.
She squeezed her fists into her dress several times and looked around the large throne room and out the window. The sky was clear without a cloud in the sky. And it was Punjam... so there'd never be snow.
She frowned to herself under her regal features, not showing it behind her gentle and content smile.
Then came the medal giving for all those responsible for Toothiana's rescue and the stopping of Pitch and basically, you know, saving the world from a deadly rise of enslaved Center Gene clones.
Tatiana told Tooth that while she was in her coma, the royal welders of the castle had been especially called to present each of the GUARDIANs with Hearts of the Highest Order, Punjam Hy Loo's greatest civilian award as chosen by the royal family directly. And with Tooth unconscious, Haroom's brother was the only royal family left to make the decision. But Tooth wasn't upset for missing out on that, this was exactly what she wanted. Dean and the others would receive lesser awards for similar efforts after the ceremony.
When it was finally announced, Tooth moved into a robotic stand with her uncle and Prince Tanvir took her hand. Then as they waited, Tooth watched Sandy, North and Aster all line up at the bottom of the throne stairs, silent and calm.
As Tooth took all three 24 karat, elegantly-designed gold medals, she walked with her uncle down the flight of red-carpeted stairs and followed behind him. Tanvir moved to North first, shook his brawny hand and then exchanged a few words with the Russian before he turned to Tooth – until he realised how short his niece was compared to the 7 ft. spy commander. He also noticed Tooth's fingers were shaking.
After an exchange of frowns with Nicolas, Tanvir gently took a medal from Tooth's grateful grip. She watched as he easily put it over North's head and let it sit against his bulky chest. By the time Tanvir had moved on, she passed North and realised he hadn't pulled his head up again.
Peeking in closer, Tooth realised his eyes were downcast to the floor with a very tired, sad look – he looked older than he always seemed to be, almost acting the age he really was. Tooth openly frowned, stood on her tiptoes and touched his cheek.
"Mr. St. North?" she whispered in concern.
He sighed and pulled his head up. Looking into her eyes, North smiled at her. She smiled back.
"Thank you," she whispered and Toothiana meant it with every drop of her heart.
With the clicks of the cameras behind her from the newspaper photographers, Tooth moved her hand from his white beard and touched the medal on his chest. It was her job as the princess to trace the crest of the Hypunjam royal family on the medal as a gesture of respect. When she opened her eyes, she looked at North and moved onto Aster.
Tanvir was already done talking to Aster by the time she was standing in front of him. And as the prince was next to Sandy, having a more casual conversation with the familiar nanny, Tooth didn't mind... especially since Aster's emotions were split all across his face.
He hadn't seen Tooth since she was in her coma- none of the GUARDIANs could have even guessed if she'd be awake in time for the ceremony before they left. Thanks to her three-day coma, he thought he'd gotten through the grieving process and would be strong for her when she got up. But seeing her awake, how much she'd changed, and how upset and confused she looked, made all of his composure disappear.
When she stood directly in front of him, his guilt returned and he tried to avoid looking at her to block it out. Tooth shakily put the medal around his neck and traced the crest but didn't pull away when she realised his face didn't change.
"Agent Edmund?" Tooth whispered timidly. "Sir?"
Aster didn't bother to look, his green eyes sharp and narrowed as usual but still swimming with negative emotion.
"Edmund," she reached down and squeezed his hand. Tooth then tilted her head and got him to really look at her.
Aster exhaled through his nose.
"I'm sorry," he murmured heavily. "I...I'm thinking about... someone."
"No," she cut him off and his eyes grew wide. Tooth smiled in poised confusion.
"No sorries," she whispered. "No more sorries, okay? What about you... hm?"
Aster looked away with a dark look but Tooth moved to shake his shoulder. He looked at her again as she spoke.
"You helped me get my life back and start over," and her eyes hardened at the edges for him "You deserve a new start too."
Aster looked down – she didn't even know why or where those words stemmed from.
"Thank you, Princess."
And Tooth felt a weird twist inside her that she couldn't control – she didn't like that Agent Aster had... called her that. He had every right to, but it... just didn't feel the same.
Aster picked up on the tension in her face muscles and eyed her suddenly. Tooth felt uncomfortable under the forest green of his eyes and moved away quickly.
Maybe it was... maybe it was better that he and Mr. St. North left soon after. Then she could probably stop having such unnecessarily awkward reactions.
Then she moved on to Mr. Sanderson after Tanvir was already moving to the end of the line and going back up to the throne. Sandy said nothing and signed nothing, but he still looked as sullen as the other two. Tooth bent slightly to meet him at eye level, and he caught her fingers start to shake again. Sandy looked at her – she was always less careful about her emotions with him since he basically raised her. Tooth didn't really see it as she placed the medal around his neck. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was someone she still needed to… Someone that still needed help.
Sandy puffed his cheeks.
Tooth sensed the distress inside her nanny. Her eyes widened automatically.
Maybe she could help in some way. Maybe she could do something so that stake in her heart would loosen slightly and not make her feel like she was the cause because on some level... Toothiana felt like it was.
She felt sick all of a sudden, she–
A pale, creamy hand waved in front of her face. Tooth blinked and sighed through her nose.
"Sorry, Mr. Sandy," she murmured sadly and bowed her head gently. He raised a finger and waved it slightly to protest – Tooth smiled at his quick gestures. At least she could always count on him to be assuring, just as he did when she was a kid. Then after the moment had passed, she turned on her feet and begrudgingly walked back up the small stairs to her throne.
That pit in her stomach seemed to only get worse.
Tooth's toe bumped her throne.
She automatically turned and sat down with so much controlled grace she thought her bones would snap from how tense she was.
'Don't show it,' she berated herself but the more she scolded herself, the more it hurt to stain the memory of whom or whatever she'd forgotten.
But it felt more and more like a person – and she grew sick with fear.
'Not yet! N-Not when the world is watching... You have to be there for everyone else. The bathroom in your bedroom can wait.'
Tooth listened as her uncle continued on with the ceremony. She squeezed her eyes shut for one moment.
'Not here. Not here.'
Baby Tooth and the handmaidens standing at the side looked at her sadly. They tightened each other's hands.
Prince Tanvir caught their looks briefly and turned to Tooth.
The only medal was still left, resting on the royal plate beside her.
...
Royal reception, Hypunjam grand halls, 1:23 p.m.
"–and to our acclaimed associates in this national search and rescue, our military stands by you in your efforts for resources and provisional aid assistance..."
As the few cameras flashed and the microphones were held up in the growing circle, men and women from The Hummingbird were excited and eager to ask the Prince Regent and his new companions any appropriate questions they had.
The post-ceremony questionnaire immediately followed and soon the main halls of the Hypunjam palace were filled with all the people from the ceremony in a mini party of warmth and dancing. They kept it light and formal despite the need to jump up and down but it couldn't be helped – what with the other overseas signatories from the security agencies and the princess' secret amnesia.
North was good-natured about the entire paparazzi pileup, charismatic and sharing what he could about the efforts of global security whilst keeping everything about his ELF organization confidential. He often times slipped his desire gene on certain reporters who were digging too much and made them leave on their own accord for food or other journalistic interests. Aster hated the limelight, talking very little unless the mention of the need for technological innovation was brought up. Then his green eyes lit up and he briefly boasted about his abilities but it was only temporary.
He knew they'd be leaving soon.
Sandy meanwhile stood alongside Tooth's uncle during the talks about Prime Minister Ty but was otherwise silent and watching over Tooth's sisters. He masked his content well, drinking sweet wine and cold, holiday eggnog that was passed around by the polite and alert servants.
Everything was going fine and calmly, even if Aster's face showed a little bit of a frown every once in a while as he surveyed the crowd.
In a brief break, he nudged North's brawny arm and bent his head slightly.
"Nic," he muttered up to the tall Russian.
North shot him a glance.
Aster said nothing and the two looked out across the crowd of colorful people to see Jack's unruly dark hair turned to them.
His face was placid and unreadable, so as to not draw attention to himself, and he would occasionally flash a small smile to anyone who caught eyes with him. But the two knew from their experience that Jack's face was torn from the inside out, his cracks visible and his composure shot to oblivion from days of self-control. As it was, Sandy caught him too just before he moved away quickly and watched the party without a sound – Baby Tooth and the girls saw him too and frowned to each other deeply.
They worried about Jack, and not just over his worry for Tooth – even though they knew a huge part of it went to her. He was the one who'd rescued her and had reunited them all in the first place... not to mention he was the one who had ultimately brought down Pitch. But to see him get absolutely no recognition for any of it at all (especially from the one person who probably mattered most to him at the moment) made them all incredibly sad.
The reporters were asking the wrong two heroes for the best story the island had ever had in history – but one had no recollection of it and the other couldn't be seen for her sake.
As they watched Jack disappear, they were each reminded that after this party he and the GUARDIANs would have to leave for what... Sandy still wasn't sure. He and North hadn't talked about what their next moves would be. Jack wasn't even fully sure what he wanted to do with himself. A part of him wanted to be alone again for a little while and North, always understanding, accepted that.
Meanwhile, Toothiana was standing at the head of the crowd looking as colorful as ever. She had a second change of dress- now a white silk one with a mosaic of rainbow colours along the bottom. It was elegant but fun and fit her perfectly. Tia even put another feather in her hair, white this time, to compliment her big bun of hair again.
She was getting her party on, but she was also rubbing her head a lot.
More memories kept coming back.
Tooth bit her lower lip and looked down like she was reading an invisible book.
Several were starting to make sense in short stories and it was a little exciting, but also pretty scary. Some vaguely retold her about a chase or an ambush that took place and how many Nightmares appeared and vanished. Others were travel destinations with strange reasons for going there...
I found a number 7 non-stop from here to Moscow. That's gotta be the one Pi–I can find us the fastest plane to New Brunswick if we leave now–
Tooth rubbed her eye.
Come on, Aani! That's it, girl! Come on!
She looked around in a slight daze from all the dizzying colors and saw another memory flicker across her eyes like the static on a TV. After a while she gave up and tried to enjoy herself.
She felt absolutely no pain, and after today, the scientists said that with her DNA, she'd only get stronger and that was more than Tooth could ask for.
She rubbed her eye slightly and looked up at the ceiling.
But all fuzzy feels aside, Toothiana still had to figure out why her heart felt so empty. She'd had enough closure to move on, hadn't she? She saved everyone who needed saved, learned everything that needed learning, wh–just what the heck did she have left to do?
When a servant passed by, he grinned to the princess and bent slightly so the platter could be at her height. He offered her a drink.
"Princess?" he teased lightly.
Tooth stuck out her tongue.
"Oh hoo-ha," she laughed and swiped the glass from the platter and the servant skipped away with a grin over his shoulder.
"God, I miss home," she mumbled as she rubbed her head; nothing made her realise that statement more than seeing her palace workers up to their old tricks again. She took a deep swig, alcohol churning warmly in her throat and sugar making her taste buds dance.
But she still sighed heavily.
Tooth licked her lips and spun on her heels. She figured that if she was going to get any sadness over with it might as well be with her sisters. BT always knew how to read her and if that crazy girl wasn't around, then Sandy was always as good a try as any.
"I'd better go see what she's u–"
"Princess?"
Tooth blinked and turned. When she looked up, a cute boy from the noble district smiled and bowed for her. He gestured to the dancing circle that had just spontaneously opened up in the middle of the hall and he raised his hand.
"Would you like to dance, Princess?" he asked politely and Tooth looked down at his warm palm for a brief moment. But after a quick pro-con battle in her head, she grinned gently and bowed slightly in return and grasped his fingers.
In a light laugh, Tooth guided him into the circle and spun on her feet. She politely smiled, feeling fast and lighter than she'd ever been.
"Princess?" he smiled nervously with an offering bow and Tooth smirked.
"You don't scare me, khuṇchāy (sir)," she grabbed his hands and started to proudly take charge. "Relax now! No one's here to hurt you."
Then they moved quick and graceful and he applauded her warmly.
"You dance wonderfully, your highness!" he gawked and she smirked up at him.
"That's right," she teased. "I d–"
A brief light flashed in front of her vision suddenly, and Tooth paused for a moment to snap her head down in pain. As they stumbled a bit, the boy looked at her worriedly and gripped her arms gently.
"Princess? Are you alright?"
But Tooth hadn't heard him – in her memory flash, she had someone else's arms grip her tightly and she breathed in panic.
The boy squeezed her skin gently. "Princess, come. Let me take you to y–"
"N–wait!" she gasped but when she tried to compose herself, his grip made another image flash. Someone else had gripped her before... Someone with brown hair and green eyes and a smile that tricked her into trusting him before he–
Don't mov–BANG!
Tooth snapped her head up without thinking.
"Bangkok!"
Immediately, she tried to wrench herself from the boy's touch in fear.
"Pr-Princess!?" but when he didn't let go, she glared at him. Before he could react, Toothiana landed a swift kick to his balls and he stumbled into another set of people who jumped in fright.
"S-Sorry!" Tooth breathed in frustration but a blink later she flew with speed across the hall to safety.
"I've got to get away," she panted. "Or he'll find me again."
Was that boy, the one in her memory, the one she'd been dreaming about? But he'd been the one to kidnap her wasn't he? So then why did she miss him?
Tooth's flats beat the marble floor quicker and no one caught where she was or recognized her fast enough to stop her. All she knew was that she needed to get to her room, work on her notes again and figure out who he was before Mr. St. North and Agent Edmund left with their–
Smack!
Someone's drink spilled onto their white dress shirt and her nose hit a wall. Or she guessed it was a wall, considering how hard–
"Hey! Watch it!" someone growled softly.
Tooth skidded to a halt.
"What?"
She had half a mind to tell him that if he was rude like that to people who touched him accidentally then he should leave – she didn't want any drama in her castle. But when she snapped her head up, Tooth heard his breath hitch.
Peeking up with sharp eyes, Tooth came face-to-face with the hottest boy she'd ever laid eyes on.
Like ever, in ever ever.
Well, to her, anyway.
He wasn't from the island, obviously, with his pale skin and light brown eyes. She figured he was one of... Chief St. North's agents. He even looked like he was healing some major despite his clear complexion and strong stance – Tooth could just tell what was going on under his suit. He was in a little pain but her mouth fell open at the sight of him anyway – she swore her cheeks were on fire.
Nothing about the way he reacted or her drink staining his shirt made her move away. Not to mention his dilating pupils. He'd been watching the crowd (and her as she danced with another guy) but his mouth flew open. Thin lips so pale and inviting, Toothiana tried really hard not to get sucked in by the smooth muscles of his throat. He rushed in but–
Tooth blinked.
Something made her collect oxygen again, and tilted her head.
"Your face... You look..." was the first thing that left her mouth and she stopped midway before she could even finish.
Tooth pursed her lips but her heart was already racing under her ribcage.
"Have we met before?"
"Wh..." Jack froze before he choked on his words in his throat. Jack knew very well he couldn't just turn away from her, she was the... but he...
"Well? Have we?"
But when she pouted her lips and raised an eyebrow like she always did, he couldn't help it and crossed his arms over his chest, his automatic reaction to her sass.
"Wh–Are you hitting on me?" and the words left his tongue before he could stop himself, making him instantly–
'Oh, son of a–'
Tooth snapped her head up instantly at the stranger and away from the attention she was giving into his lanky (but toned) body visible from under his tuxedo.
"What?!"
She jabbed a finger in his face that Jack caught easily.
"Excuse me, buddy! I don't know who you think you are coming into my palace and acting like this like I'm some kind of tramp!"
"Wh–" Jack ruffled but the words kept rolling off his tongue like a dance. "You're back home and you're already jumping straight to the cat fights?"
Jack then squeezed her finger, provoked, hot and bothered all over her to the point of starvation.
He needed this, even if she gonna smack him and throw him out of her castle forever.
Jack needed her, the way he would always remember Tooth – colorful, scatter-brained, unrefined, and never one to take shit.
"You little–"
And Jack inhaled sharply and prepared for the worst (and cherished its best). He then chuckled and cracked a smirk at her, absolutely enthralled by the touch of her hand, the warmth in her skin, and the tingle that promised their genes were forever in sync.
"That's the best you can come up with?"
Tooth felt some unnatural shiver flourish up to her chest. It was like his husky laugh sent her on some automatic high that she was already prepared for – and not ready for like it was something she'd been waiting for her entire...
Okay, no, rewind!
What did he just say?!
Tooth turned red.
"What did you just say?!" Then she ripped her hand from his and–
Smack!
The sound of skin smacking skin bounced around their circle and the guests looked at Jack nervously.
"What's wrong, little man?" she pestered as she curled in her fist. "All talk, no game?"
Jack took a step back. He blinked and his eyes automatically changed to his default annoyed.
"What'd you do that for?!"
"Because you're coming on to me like a piece of salami and I don't even know you!"
"Piece of sa–Tooth, what the hell are you–"
"And don't call me Tooth!" she spat suddenly, looking shocked. "Only people close to me can call me that."
With a hot step, she pushed her hand onto his chest and went to shove him back with all the might her in tiny little body.
"What are you gonna do, then?" he challenged. "Huh? What?"
She narrowed her eyes coldly.
"Get out."
And that was it.
"Are you serious?" he frowned but Jack knew there was no going back – and that was it. He tried to form her name one more time on his lips.
"You're serious."
"I think you should see yourself out early," she ordered under her breath. "I'd have the guards escort you but I'll let you keep what little integrity you have left in that knuckle-brained head of yours."
And Tooth tightened her fist into his shirt, ready to push him back. He may be cute, but she had learned a thing or two about punks like him since she'd been kidnapped – and he wasn't about to disrespect her or anyone anymore.
Cute but annoying little piece of–
Start looking like a bodyguard and less like a kidnapper–
"Bod'–ah!" Tooth bent her head in pain with a soft hiss.
"Y...No! Not a–"
WHAT?!...I NEED TO STOP HIM! SO CAN YOU?!
Jack's eyebrows flew up under his bangs, heart thundering under his tuxedo.
He watched as she grit her teeth and clutched her head.
"No!" He moved in with his hands ready to touch her–
But he stopped at the last second and yanked himself away with every urge in his body.
"I... A–"
His eyebrows scrunched together in fear and his fingers twitched, stuck in a standstill. He wanted to touch her more than anything–
Jack's skin paled slightly.
"Tooth?" he murmured and kept trying to close his mouth. "I mean, I...I'm sorry, princess, I'll leave. I–"
But when he caught her catch a glimpse of his flexing digits – she paused.
Eyes growing slightly wide... Tooth remembered something. Faster than he could look away, Tooth threw her gaze up to catch his face, taking in his eyes and his features through her headache.
Jack froze.
Through his colored contacts, his gaze grew wide. He had never seen Tooth's new eye color up close before, wide and awake with so many different colors now that he was drowning in their jeweled seas. His heart hammered in his heart, his mouth falling slightly open.
"Wh..." Tooth panted and tried to read his emotions. "Wh–aah!"
Sh-Shut up! I don't even know what you're–Swing to give me the momentum to pull you–
Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib.
"D-Don't worry, I'm fine," Tooth tried mumbling to the stranger as her creepy visions subsided. "I'll be okay! I ju..."
Tooth dropped her head with a whine in the back of her throat.
"Hn'm sorry I...I'm..."
And Jack couldn't do it.
He just couldn't do it.
So with a cruel twist in his heart, he looked away gently, showing no thread of the bitterness she remembered. Then mouth dry and tongue tied, he said nothing – afraid his voice would set her off – even though he wanted to and he turned away.
"Maintain the distance," he kept reciting to himself as his heart splintered away with each step. "...maintain the distance."
And as much as he wanted to hold her hand and help her every step of the way like she'd done for him, Jack knew that this time, no one could help her.
"Sir, it's okay," Tooth murmured and she rubbed her temple in pain. "You don't have to run away like a little... I'm... I–Wait."
She faltered.
"Wa–Hang on a second."
The flashbacks were hitting her hard and suddenly became jumbled and scary.
But...
His eyes...
She'd seen them in several flashes – but were they there just because she'd just ran into him or...
Had they always been his?
Tooth looked around in a daze. She glared at the floor in petulance as she remembered all the vague scraps of sheets she'd managed to steal and read from Mr. Sandy and the guards – everything had to be there but the pieces still weren't lining up.
Tooth rubbed her face delicately.
And yet...
Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib.
Suit up, sp–
Tooth gasped.
She saw steering wheels, she felt the wind from a motorcycle and someone's brown hair tickle her jaw before it turned white. And there were leather gloves that reloaded guns faster than she'd ever seen and a deep voice that sent chills up her spine...
Tooth swallowed a heavy lump in her throat – and she snapped her head up.
"Wait!" she cried.
The young man was already gone.
Toothiana instantly panicked. But she couldn't get her guards to stop him, they would take too long, and she didn't want to cause a commotion at the party when everyone deserved to be happy again. So with a brave upward tilt of her chin and a little hike of her skirt, Tooth pushed easily through the taller people of the crowd and went after him.
She was terrified, but something in her told her to chase him, even if it was just to get more flashbacks- since a whole load of them had spilled out of her head from just one... Tooth remembered someone who had made her body jolt with an electric chill every time she touched their skin. Her heart raced desperately.
That wasn't imaginary. That was real!
"Sir, wait!" she cried politely.
A flicker away, Tooth caught brown hair for a split second.
"Wait!"
Then it vanished again, but it only made her fire burn faster.
"Come on, man," she huffed angrily. "You're gonna make me run? Oh hell no!"
Why was he even trying to get away from her in the first place? Gun, spy or not, she was the Crown princess and he was the guest in her country! She'd just been through hell! And no one shied away from Princess Toothiana so if he was too chicken shit to face her then she'd run him down herself. Even if he was fast... she was faster.
And she had the eyes to help her too.
When she caught the black of his tuxedo again, Tooth narrowed her eyes and tapped into her gene. Instantly a flicker of light danced across her irises and she peeked through Tatiana's eyes for better coverage of the party. Tooth figured that maybe Tat had a superior view and she could use it to spot where the brunette was heading.
"What the –"
Tooth's breath caught in her throat.
BT wasn't just watching the whole party. From where the eldest clone stood at the top of the higher steps leading up to the wings... her sister was actually watching the brunette anyway!
Tooth moved with confusion as BT gave her a clear trace of where he was – between the men with the red robes and the women with the orange feather in her hair. But why would BT be watching the exact same boy at the same time as her?
Tooth figured maybe that it was because she'd been watching her bump into him and the younger sister was just concerned... but then Tooth realised that BT's eyes weren't even on her. They were still on the young man, watching him weave gracefully through her guests.
Tooth rolled her eyes with a disappointed pitter-patter.
"She probably thinks he's cute too," Tooth huffed gently as her baby hair twitched slightly. But as good as BT could spot him, she lost quickly sight of him from the angle where she stood.
"Crap," Tooth muttered and pulled back into her own head, glancing over her shoulder and peeking up at the second-level balconies. Lounging from one, she saw Tina eating and looking down at the crowd with a twisted face.
Tooth scrunched her eyebrows – what was upsetting her?
She peeked into her eyes. Then realised–
"W–Really?"
Tina was tracking the brunette too!
Tooth nearly tripped in shock.
"You too!?" she whispered. Why would–
"Come on," she heard Tina say, trying to follow Jack through the people as he weaved through them. She tried remembering their styles of clothes as Tina muttered under her breath angrily.
"Come on, lose her!"
Tooth almost skidded to a halt.
Tina didn't want her to catch him?! That was a blow and a half to her self-esteem. Maybe Tina thought Tooth wasn't good enough for him and that she just looked pathetic. But Tooth swallowed that down like a bad pill – no, there was something about him and she couldn't put her finger on it–
See? I told you it WAS a pair of horny teenagers last night–
Tooth's heart started to race.
"Sir!" she huffed, knowing he could hear her. "You get back here!"
She quickly switched to the rest of her sisters' eyes, and realised they were all watching the brunette try to get farther away from her! She frowned and moved faster. As to why, she wasn't sure, but they were all giving her sad looks – but between the eight pairs of eyes she knew exactly where he was heading.
A blink and a kick in her step later, Tooth meandered through the crowd more swiftly and made it out of the throng at the next hallway. She hadn't seen him go through but from her sisters she'd known he'd come through here – and she was right.
The hall opened into a grand staircase that went down to the lower level of the palace's south wing. Its rich red carpet was lined with gold and the chandeliers that hung over them gave the warm marble of the hall a soft glow. But Tooth cared less with each step she made.
Squinting through her painful headache and her throbbing temples, flashes of memories bombarded her like an avalanche.
She saw old church bricks, and Christmas lights, and heard a man singing as she twirled in a circle with someone and smelled hot chocolate. She tasted blood on her lips, salt on her tongue, and heavy hands touch her waist and pull her back every time it felt like she would vanish.
"Stop!" she cried louder. "W-Wait, you can't–"
The memories flickered in and out. They were bright from the sun, and hot, and engines kept running on long winding roads she couldn't see to the end of–
–ou...you have a sister?! And a...I can't believe it!
Tooth pushed through the people, her mouth open in a frown and her heart creeping with ice.
"Please don't be... Please don't be–"
And there was ice in her memories too! She saw it, she felt it. The bulk of the images now were constant with the stories of winter. Snowflakes, hoarfrost, the burning of the north wind, and a warm puff of air she didn't understand yet desperately wanted.
She wanted snow.
She wanted frost.
She wanted the cold.
Even in the hot and beautiful summer light of her island, she wanted winter, all of it, more than anything.
"Stop!" she cried even louder and the people around her turned to her in slight fright. "J–"
She choked suddenly. A syllable threatened to jump out of her throat... but she didn't know it yet. Her eyes stung immediately and she nearly tripped on her skirt as she came to the edge of the stairs.
"Wa... J–You can't–"
Everything wanted to come out at once. She couldn't breathe. His brown hair and black suit blended perfectly into the sea of new people.
"Ja...J–No! No!"
Dib. Dib. Dib.
He was gone.
Dib. Dib. Dib.
She couldn't see him.
She lost him! Tooth squeezed her eyes shut.
She–
"JACK! I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU PULL ANOTHER GUNNER ON ME, I AM GOING TO KNOCK YOU UPSIDE YOUR HEAD–" she slapped her hands over her mouth.
Everyone in the room fell silent and turned to look at her, letting her beat of silence pass.
Wh...What was that?!
Tooth looked at everyone in fear, her pink-violet eyes terrified and her fingers shaking. She looked down at the bottom of the stairs. Everyone looked back up at her.
She hadn't meant to say that out loud. She didn't even know why she'd said it – but she'd said it without thinking and now but he was...
Silent but urgent, Tanvir, Sanderson, North and Aster appeared with Tooth's sisters off to one side, covered by the crowd. BT had warned Mr. Sandy and they tried to reach her in time in case she did anything stupid.
Well, it was too late for that, and now there was no going back.
Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib.
Heavy panting and neck growing hot, Tooth dropped her hands and fisted them in her dress. She glared down at them softly. A moment passed.
What happened next she'd never expected.
Suddenly, the people at the edge of the last step parted a little in the center... and at the core was his back, facing her. His chocolate brown hair shone almost dark auburn in the chandelier light but he made no move to turn or run. No one in the hall made a motion to move, afraid and anxious as Thia rolled in her lips and frowned at him. Toothiana was their princess, sweet and awkwardly polite, so when she shouted a command everyone had to listen – so why couldn't he?
Tiana covered her mouth as she clutched Baby Tooth's hand.
North leaned out farther, eyes dead set on Tooth's features but she said nothing, letting the man at the bottom of the floor decide for himself if he wanted to play by her rules.
She watched his back stiffen slightly and, without a word, everyone watched as the brunette turned slowly back around and dragged his eyes up to her. They were narrowed in preparation but the second they landed on the rainbow design of her dress, Jack froze.
His eyebrows vanished under his bangs as he stood amongst the other men dressed in dark suits and the women in beautiful robes and dresses. He did nothing.
But the tips of his ears started to turn red. And Tooth was petrified.
No, Tooth! Get away, y...you need to get away!
In her waking fear, she watched his handsome face flicker in and out with images from a dream she was still trying to put together.
Her heart stopped in her chest.
JACKSOOOON!
For one fleeting moment... her heart feeling fast like a hummingbird finally began to slow down because it was real.
It was real.
...It was a–
Catching his eyes in the light of her castle, and the way his bangs swept untamed and perfect–
His bangs. His hair.
Sharp and wispy and pointy and... and... And Tooth realised that she had seen his face before.
She knew him.
Jack watched her fingers start to shake. His eyes grew wide with fear.
"T..." his lips formed her name silently and in a flicker, Tooth saw him in another memory, shouting to her in the high winds–
"Ah!"
Tooth threw a hand into her hair painfully... but she didn't dare take her eyes off him.
"I... Wait, you..."
Tia scrunched her eyebrows.
"Please, Tooth," she whispered gently, "please."
She watched with the rest of her sisters as Tooth narrowed her eyes gently.
Something warm pooled in the pit of her stomach, and she knew... a fog was lifting. There was also a sky somewhere opening up, and she couldn't wait.
Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib.
Tooth was tired of waiting.
She just wanted to stare at him...
Jack took a step back–
Tooth lips pulled back in a snarl. "Don't... you dare... move."
He froze.
Then Jack watched her suddenly lift one foot. And nothing felt more suicidal to him than standing in front of a shotgun – not when Tooth's eyes so clouded, so heated, and so... magenta... She was not done with him.
NOW GO PUT ON A SHIRT! Y-YOU'RE BLINDING EVERYONE!
Tooth went down one stair.
Jack looked at her, squinting through his nervous stare. He wanted to take a step back but the ferocity in Tooth's gaze was more powerful, unstoppable, and she pinned him right to where he stood.
Aster leaned out with North and tightened his fists in his gloves, his heart racing for the both of them.
"Come on, sheila..."
Tooth never once let her gaze leave Jack. With every slow step, an image filtered of him through her mind and she refused to shut her eyes and shy away.
Dunkin' Donuts? Haha do you hear yourself?!
His hair was like the lighthouse in her ocean, pulling her in and haunting her closer to jagged stones she couldn't yet see. Tooth wanted to draw, she needed to! But she couldn't! Not when... not when–
A silent town with a train track and a river washed over her senses.
Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib. Dib.
Tooth exhaled shakily.
At another step, she was suddenly pressing herself into his neck as he held her on a bathroom floor covered in glass–
Was there ever any doubt?
Jack's fingers were shaking.
He felt like his head was underwater and he needed to come up for air.
"T..."
Her name dropped off his lips and his head dropped with it.
"I'm gonna be in a lot of shit for this," he whispered, "but I'm not giving up on you. And I know you won't either."
Then without a word, Jack lifted two of his fingers and pulled his colored contact lenses out. The people around him inhaled under their breaths as he put them away and shut his eyes. He listened to his blood rushing in his ears, the jingle in Tooth's jewelry, but Jack was stuck. So he looked up, and sent the arctic swimming in his eyes straight through Tooth's heart.
And she nearly tripped.
"You m... Y-You mean you're–"
I'll be quick as a bunny.
"A b...A wha–"
Tooth covered her mouth.
Her suddenly lungs wanted to rip out of her chest cavity.
"Mfm," she mumbled shakily behind her hand.
Blue.
"M-Mhfmm."
Tooth took another step down, and another, feet moving quicker, each one more desperate and less bitter. She felt her fists tighten on her skirt and her hard face grew more afraid that if she didn't get to him fast enough–
She pulled her hand away from her mouth.
And I'd save you a hundred times before someone saved me, got it?
Jack saw her urgency, starving for it, needing it, and before he could stop himself, he turned fully to face her and let her take in his profile, afraid out of his mind that she'd shatter right before him.
BT gasped nervously under her breath.
"She... She–"
He took a step forward.
"J... I..."
Tooth saw the gesture.
"I... I know this part."
And suddenly, the research papers didn't matter anymore. Neither did her drawings. The questions could all go to hell because she stepped down even faster.
Dib. Dib.
And faster and faster until–
Dib. Dib.
Tooth choked on a sob and jumped two at a time.
"...I remember."
Jack took three steps closer to the edge of the stairs. His heart was in his throat and he didn't even realise that his hands were slightly rising for her.
"I re... Oh my GOD, I–"
Dib. Dib.
"I-I remember!"
Tooth's face split with a big smile.
And at the last possible second–
"JACK!"
–she jumped right into his arms.
Almost immediately, everyone in the hall started clapping at the show and cheered in applause for Jack's easy catch...but no one knew just how important the moment was. Wrapping her arms around him and pressing herself into his neck.
"Where did you go?! What happened!? Are you okay? H-How di' y..." she hiccuped into his skin. "Glub m-m...mah l–I mean... dammit, I'm r...I'm really sorry, I–"
But Jack held her tight and said nothing as he looked up at the others. He then lifted her slightly off the ground before he put her down again. The moment he did, the two of them ran their hands across each other's face like North, trying to make sure that she was really okay, he was really alive, and they were both really there. Tooth even rubbed his ears as Jack finally tilted her neck for himself – the injection wound was no more.
The clapping still echoed around them but Tooth's eyes were fixated on him.
And she gave him a look (with her clear, magenta eyes) deep enough to stop his stars, and smiled.
"I missed you so much, Jack."
And Jack swore his body was back under one of her biotics, feeling that endless rush. He quickly grabbed her upper arms.
"I need to say it," he breathed. "Now or never."
Tooth froze.
"W... W-What?"
He then leaned down and parted his lips,
"... did you get shorter?"
"Wh-Son of a–Really? Really, that's the first thing you say to me?!"
And Jack shook his head, feeling her ball of light in his chest burning a hole right through him.
"You're crazy, you know that?"
"EXCUSE ME?!"
"Okay," then a moment later, Jack tightened his grip around her and pulled her right against him.
"You're excused."
Then Jack scooped her up and hugged her tight to his body in a quick spin.
Happy gasps filled the circle instantly and even more applauding went around- Tooth had been pretty much hopeless in the guy department for so long that the islanders were genuinely nervous for her. But seeing this operative swoop in and wrap her around his finger was just the star they were wishing on.
Tooth's center fluttered wildly, erasing all her nightmares away like hot steam on a summer day and the next thing she knew, she was wrapping her arms around his neck, bringing him closer and shielding his head. She laughed wholeheartedly, bridging almost on crying. Jack stumbled for one awkward moment in the sudden change with her reaction but he exhaled so heavily that every weight in him disappeared instantly.
Without fear or judgement, he moved both arms lower and lifted her even higher off the ground to get more of her. She was forever the best thing he'd ever held and he wanted to keep it that way. Strength or no strength, he'd hold her up forever.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Tatiana screamed alongside her sisters while she, Tuhina, and Theena jumped on their flats.
North and Phil shook hands.
"Haha! Now that is our girl!" he shouted and Aster rolled his eyes with a smirk.
"And that's our boy," he chuckled and he clapped alongside a proud Prince Tanvir and a Mr. Sanderson overwhelmed with bouncing.
Eventually the clapping got too loud and with a small grin, Jack lowered back down on her tiny feet and leaned his head against hers. He was surprised when Tooth's wide gaze perpetually trapped on him and his teeth for a long and frozen period of time. Tooth bit her lip and shut her eyes.
All the butterflies in her stomach floated away when he smirked. And as her light burned brighter for him than he ever thought could, Jack's eyelids fell slightly for her.
"You honestly don't know how much I missed you too. Trust me."
Her cheeks started to match his ears in all the embarrassment.
"I think this belongs to you," she whispered back and, pulling away slightly, Toothiana fished out her father's necklace...and presented the last medal, the she'd worn around her neck the entire afternoon.
Jack froze and she looked down at medal with an embarrassing laugh. After a while though, she shrugged – proud but still inherently her – and lifted the medal over her head and presented it with shaky fingers.
"No more gunning, okay?" Tooth asked, and Jack's heart raced at the sight. He showed her his last vial with her gene in it, and he squeezed it tight.
"And no more running."
Then he bent considerably for her, and as Tooth placed the award around his neck, Jack kept his gaze on her like the world would end if he didn't.
She blushed back with a tearful grin.
"Ladies and gentleman, please give a round of applause for our last Guardian, Agent Jack Frost,
representing the United States, and first protector of Her Royal Highness
and future Queen to the Royal Hypunjam Crown, beloved Princess Toothiana."
The hall erupted with a louder encore from the royal commentator's announcement.
Tooth rolled in her lips to stop her smile from showing so much and when Jack pulled his face back up, nothing else mattered.
He wasn't drowning anymore.
"So... can you really see me?" he asked gently after throwing an almost shy glance over at the others, and she nodded without hesitation.
"Do you believe me?" she teased and Jack leaned down further to touch his bangs to her delicate, jumping hair. His skin flushed at the familiar sensation of her. His smile was soft enough to calm the waves in her heart.
"You'd better believe I do," he whispered.
And Tooth shut her eyes with a grin.
Chapter's soundtrack: "May I" – Trading Yesterday
If certain things still might not be clear/reasoned, don't worry they'll be explained in the next chapter. Big thank yous again to Emily! Love you, sweetie, and some parts even go in credit to her. :D The final chapters will come fairly quickly so thank you to all you guys for your patience. I am really honored and grateful to know many of you. :3 Be sure to look for my replies in your PM boxes!
*And to anyone curious, the first note that Tooth left Jack when she thought he was a dead ELF is an actual Buddhist chant called The Chant of 'Metta' (meaning, Loving Kindness).
Okay... we're almost there. :)
