Jack awoke suddenly, wondering what was different. After a few seconds, he realized that the world was eerily silent. He felt hot and sticky, and he was starving. He untangled himself from the smooth, cooling blankets and looked around for Pitch. Steam rose from the back of the cave, and Jack stood up to investigate, his legs trembling as he walked.
The cave was bigger than it seemed on the outside; it angled downward and was mostly underground. The floor was rock, nice and cold against his bare feet. He rounded a short corner to find Pitch standing naked, washing himself with a rag. Jack was so startled by the man's appearance that he stopped and stared.
Pitch seemed taller without clothes. His entire body was absolutely covered in the same thin scars that Jack now had on his stomach. They were particularly bad on his arms and legs, and the long, unbroken lines spoke of some kind of torture that made Jack swallow. Pitch continued to bathe, drawing the white cloth over his dark grey skin. Jack started when the man spoke.
"Yet again, Frost, you are staring, and that is, I repeat, very rude."
"I…I just…I don't…"
"Spit it out, Frost."
"Will mine make me grey?"
Pitch glanced over, his eyes going to the dark line on Jack's bare stomach. "No. I got most of the poison out. You're fine. It should fade." A bitter smile crossed his face. "You won't be as hideous as I am."
"You're not hideous," Jack said.
"But I make you uncomfortable."
"Well, you're naked," the boy said, trying to cover up his true thoughts.
"Nice try, Frost. I know I'm ugly. I couldn't refract anymore even if I wanted to."
Jack blinked. "What?"
Pitch's pale grey face darkened, looking almost bruised. "Nothing, Jack. You should wash, too. You've been tossing and turning. The storm ended about half an hour ago, and your color is returning to normal. I think the worst is over."
Jack nodded, and Pitch reached over and picked up another rag, tossing it over, then continued to wash. Jack hesitated then struggled out of his pants, nearly overbalancing. He caught himself on the wall then walked over and dipped his cloth into the water. The steam didn't stop, but when he wrung out the water, it chilled in his hands. Jack looked down and noticed the same black fire from before. The flames gave out no heat, but the water was clearly hot in the bucket.
"What kind of fire is that?" Jack asked. "It kept the water hot, and it's not warm."
Pitch's lips twitched, and his eyes gleamed. "A special invention of mine."
Jack began to wipe away the sweat and dirt that coated his pale skin. "How do you make it?" Pitch glanced over, raising his eyebrows, and Jack flinched, looking down. "Let me guess. Golden Age secret?" he asked bitterly.
"No. Been talking to Sanderson, eh?" Pitch asked, his silvery-gold eyes gleaming.
"He wouldn't explain how to make the red dreamsand," Jack grumbled.
"Oh, that's easy," Pitch said dismissively. "Mix a dropper full of the essence of a Red Giant star with the white light refracted through a diamond. Let sit for two weeks then add a drop to thirty ounces of regular dreamsand. Presto. Red dreamsand."
Jack gaped at Pitch for a moment the shook his head. "Why wouldn't Sandy tell me that himself? It's not like I could make it myself!"
"You could if you had the ingredients," Pitch said, dipping his cloth into the hot water. "But Star Captains are notorious for being secret-keepers. So few people exist from the Golden Age anymore, and most of them keep their secrets jealously. I think it's a stupid thing to do, honestly. We're losing so many things from that age, all because the Ancients won't share them."
He scrubbed his face then set aside the cloth and grabbed a dry towel. Jack forced himself to focus on washing himself. The scar stung as he drew the rag across it, and he hissed. Pitch wrapped the towel around his waist and walked over.
"How badly does it hurt?"
"It doesn't," Jack lied.
Pitch pursed his lips and crossed his arms. "Let me be very clear, Frost," he said evenly. "I will not lie to you if you will not lie to me. I know when people are lying, so you will never get away with it. You want to be treated like an adult, then you must act like one. Lying is a childish activity that morphs into real problems if you continue to do it as you grow up. I know that you personally can't grow up, but that is no excuse to lie. If you lie, I can't help you with whatever problem you are hiding. Do you understand?"
Jack's face was cold, and he knew he was blushing. The rag hung limply in his hand, and Pitch's intense gaze made him feel vulnerable. He bit his bottom lip then nodded, muttering an apology.
"Good. Now, how badly does it hurt?"
"It just stings," Jack said. "You don't have to worry about it."
"Deep like a knife or shallow like a bee sting?"
"Shallow."
Pitch nodded. "When you're done bathing, come and let me look at it. It shouldn't be that dark."
The Nightmare King walked back around the corner, leaving Jack with his thoughts. With no more conversation, Jack washed himself quickly, glad to be clean, and then dried off with another towel. He pulled on his pants, grimacing as his new scar stretched too far. He followed Pitch, rubbing the thin line. Pitch was kneeling before another dark fire, tending to something in a pot.
"Sit down here," Pitch ordered, gesturing beside him. "Then lay back with your hands behind your head."
Jack obeyed, and if he'd thought the scar hurt before, it hurt even worse. It was stretched so tight that it brought tears to his eyes. A strangled noise escaped him, and Pitch's sharp gaze locked onto him.
"Still shallow?" he asked.
"It's tight," Jack said through clenched teeth.
Pitch leaned over Jack's stomach, drawing his fingers over the wound. Jack moaned, his body starting at the stab of pain. The Nightmare King didn't look happy as he pulled back.
"I'm going to have to cut you open again."
Jack sat up and backed away. "What?!"
"Calm down. I have anesthesia. But you're going to be conscious," Pitch said.
"Why?"
"I have no more dreamsand. That was one reason I was preparing my ship. I need more ingredients."
"Can't we ask Sandy for some?" Jack could hear that his voice was higher than normal, but he couldn't help it. Just the thought of a knife splitting his skin terrified him.
Pitch's jaw clenched, and he glanced over, his face pinching. Jack felt his heart sink.
"What's wrong?"
The Nightmare King looked back into the pot, stirring with slow, even strokes. But, as he had promised, he answered honestly.
"We could go to his island, but he's not on Earth anymore."
Jack shivered, noting that Pitch's expression was still troubled. "And?"
"I'll tell you what," Pitch said. "I'll talk while I'm working on you. It'll give you something to focus on."
Jack didn't like that thought, but he agreed. He lay back down and placed his hands behind his head. Pitch scooped out a shimmering substance from the pot and pulled out a knife. He began to sharpen it, and Jack moaned softly, his eyes locked on the blade.
"Did you know," Pitch said, drawing the knife over the whetstone, "that people get more anxiety from anticipating pain than actually being in pain?"
Jack glanced at the calm face. "R-really?"
"Oh, yes," Pitch said, thumbing the blade lightly. "Just thinking about being in pain makes people anxious. It's not usually as bad as they think it will be though." Jack nodded, and Pitch set aside the whetstone and picked up a rag to coat the blade in the shining substance. "Do you know what this is?" he asked, holding out the dirty rag. It shone in the black fire.
Jack shook his head, and Pitch took a crystalline spoon and filled it. He shifted and dropped it onto Jack's stomach. Within a second, the boy's skin went numb. Jack looked down to see that his skin was as white as his hair. Pitch used the back of the spoon to spread it around.
"This," Pitch said, scooping more of the gel onto Jack's belly, "is a mixture of Star Fish bones and the venom of a Creeping Slither. Neither are native to this planet. In fact, Star Fish are space dwelling creatures that swarm and swim around the galaxy. Now, I don't kill them myself. It is considered unlucky to kill such an innocent creature. But they don't have long lifespans, only a year at most, so I pick up their bodies and use them in my potions and experiments."
"What do they look like?" Jack asked.
"They're beautiful and bright, and you might think they were stars until they swim toward you. They're blue and yellow, with long tendrils they use to see in the darkness of space. They have poor vision."
Pitch set aside the rag then washed his hands. He set the knife in the fire to sterilize it. Jack swallowed, but before he could panic, Pitch began to talk again.
"Creeping Slithers are native to the darker reaches of this galaxy. They're water-dwelling creatures that creep and slither across the bottom. When it's time for them to die, they turn over and float to the top. If you get them within four days, you can extract their venom. It's a powerful numbing agent, and when combined with the powdered Star Fish bone, it's stabilized and its potency is lessened enough that it affects only the area you want."
Pitch picked up the knife then turned and positioned himself. He looked directly at Jack, and the boy saw the silvery-gold eyes gleam and glitter. Jack found himself relaxing, and he looked up at the ceiling of the cave. What Jack could only define as the smell of hot ice filled the cave, and Jack could feel nothing. He blinked.
"So what's going on with Sandy? Did he go to get ingredients or something?"
"Don't move," Pitch said. "But I have bad news."
Jack glanced at the taut face. "What?"
"Shadow Man got Lunar. The Guardians went after them. They've been gone for over a week. The moon is dark, and Lunar is gone."
"Lunar…" Jack mused. "Is that MiM's name?"
Pitch nodded. "Yes. His full name is Tsar Lunar Lunanoff XII. Most Earthlings don't know his family's great legacy. The Lunanoffs were great in the Golden Age. Everybody loved them." Pitch paused then shook his head. "Everybody good did, at least."
"You really love him, don't you?" Jack asked softly.
Pitch's face darkened, but he nodded again. "Yes. I never stopped. I didn't want him to get hurt. Shadow Man wants to destroy him. Lunar's so good, so amazing. He's everything that's good in this universe. I can't stand the thought of that light leaving his eyes. I never could take him being sad."
"How did you meet?"
Pitch's lips twitched into an almost-smile. He told Jack the story of meeting the chubby little boy that turned into the legendary Man in the Moon, and by the time Pitch was dragged away and beaten, he was done with the knife. Setting it aside, he grabbed a strange tool.
"This will hurt, but not like normal pain," he said. "You can move if you need to, but don't look down."
Jack swallowed but nodded, locking his eyes onto the ceiling. Pitch dipped down, and Jack gave a startled yell as prickling heat shot through his stomach. He arched back, trying to get away, and then the heat turned into ice, but it wasn't pleasant to Jack like cold usually was. The boy tried to hold in a curse, but when the ice turned to something akin to electricity, his entire body spasmed and he swore as tears streaked down his cheeks.
The sensation morphed into something that felt slimy and black, and Jack screamed until his throat burned. It felt like a serpent was swimming through his veins. Terrible thoughts, dark and dirty, filled his head, and for a brief eternity, Jack didn't know what was going on. Then, quite suddenly, his mind snapped back into place, and he was fine. He looked down to find that the long scar was now as white as his hair, and it was sealed. Blinking, he looked up to see Pitch stirring some kind of stew.
"Welcome back," Pitch said. "Would you like some rabbit stew?"
Jack sat up, noticing that his stomach was still partially numb. But it did rumble, so he slowly shifted forward and picked up the bowl that Pitch held out. They ate silently. As they finished, Jack cleared his throat.
"So what are we going to do about MiM?"
Pitch took a swallow of water then rubbed his chin. "We need to get you strong again. While you're resting, I'm going to work on my ship. We've got to get it space worthy as fast as possible. Now that the storm has stopped it should be easy."
Jack perked. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
Pitch's lips twitched. "Ever wanted to be an astronaut?"
