A/N: I apologize so very much for the long wait, but here is the next chapter! As always, con crit and feedback are quite appreciated ;3 Also, as I've been plotting this out in my head it's actually not that dub-con-ish (well except for the whole pregnancy thing) and Pitch is actually pretty good w/boundaries and shit and I'm not sure if that's just cause I've read so many rapey BlackIce fics or if it's because I'm trying to make amends for the Koga/Blue cause holyshit KOGA NO BAD KOGA
ehem
Anywho, enjoy! :)
Chapter 6
"I'm sorry!" Jack blurts. She draws her staff back, away from Pitch, and seems to shrink in on herself. "I'm so, so sorry," Jack rambles, her eyes wide and her expression pinched.
Pitch doesn't respond, and he bends down to retrieve his frozen shadow. He frowns at the way the inky matter falls apart under his touch in a fine, crystalline substance.
"Is... is it... dead?" Jack frets, her fear spiraling into ice cold terror that does not sit well on Pitch's tongue.
"It wasn't really alive in the first place," Pitch comments, scrutinizing the remains carefully. "Not in the way that some of my creations are at their later stages."
"I'm sorry," Jack repeats miserably. "I didn't know that would happen."
"It's not your fault." Pitch fixes his eyes, gold flecked with silver, on her. "It was an accident; there's no use blaming yourself."
"But my staff, it-"
"Seems to be a bit more than merely a conduit for your power," Pitch says, his gaze falling to her staff. The winter spirit's grip on her weapon tightens, her knuckles whitening to near transparency. He stands up.
"Jack, I'm not angry. Somewhat annoyed, yes, but not angry."
Jack shakes her head, her bangs falling over her eyes, and Pitch can tell she's trying not to cry. "Everything I do, I always mess it up, and it's not like I don't try, but it's like nothing I do is good enough and I just-" She's shaking, minute tremors wracking her body, and the temperature is decreasing sharply. "Maybe it would've been better if the Moon had just left me in the pond to begin with."
"Left you where?" Pitch asks incredulously. "I thought you merely woke up."
"I did," Jack says wearily. "It was cold, and dark, and I was scared. Then the ice broke as I came out of the pond and the Moon was so bright and comforting." She laughs bitterly. "Then he told me my name. After that I found my staff and-" A small smile stretches her lips. "It was so exhilarating, running around the pond, and flying-"
Her smile disappears. "And then the first person I talked to walked right through me."
It takes all the self control Pitch has not to start growling and never stop. The lunar ruler had, for all intents and purposes, only given Jack life and spoken to her once before throwing her in the deep end to sink or swim with no guidance whatsoever. And given the fact she had not memories and had risen out of an iced over pond, Pitch was going to keep that metaphor to himself for the time being.
"None of that is your fault," he says, and really, how funny it is that he, the Bogeyman, is trying to comfort someone who's scared. But it's not just 'someone', it's Jack, he thinks, and since when had she gotten this far under his skin? He sits down next to her again, ignoring the near-Arctic temperature and the thick layer of frost that has spread out from Jack.
"You don't know that," she says in a small voice, and it sounds so wrong; the Jack he knows is brash and exuberant and never afraid. The thought makes him chuckle, and the look Jack gives him would be scathing in any other situation.
"Everyone warns you of me, and yet the first time you are afraid, it is because you do not want to lose what we have," Pitch says aloud, his smile almost fond.
Jack ducks her head, cheeks a faint purple while the tips of her ears have frosted over. "I... s'pose that's kinda weird, huh?" she mumbles, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.
"Quite," Pitch says, and Jack smiles and elbows him, but not unkindly.
The room has warmed up somewhat, and from the corner of his eye Pitch can see the frost covering the floor has lessened. He brings up one hand and ruffles her hair a bit, and the grin she shoots him isn't very large, but assures him more than anything else that he's done the right thing.