Chapter 10

It takes almost three days before Pitch's shadows bring him news that they've backtracked Jack's trail to a forest in Central Europe where one section has "mysteriously" been frozen over. The locals are quite fearful of it actually, giving Pitch an ulterior motive for his trip.

After Jack had fallen asleep she'd stayed that way for nearly an entire day before waking for a whort while. She spent most of her time sleeping which, no matter how frustrating to Pitch, made some sense. After all, it took a while for ice to freeze, and winter was not exactly a time of healing.

Pitch sighs softly and looks down at Jack who is laying peacefully unaware of what he is about to do. It has been a strange thing, watching her sleep, seeing her so still when he's used to a flurry of movement and her lively personality. Here she looks so delicate and breakable, like a fresh bloomed flower in the spring amid patches of snow.

He brushes hair back from her forehead and his eyes trace the vivid bruise on her face, a deep bright blue with hints of purple against her pale skin. There is a flutter of something in his chest, something that's been very present lately, and Pitch sighs again.

Even before Jack had been hurt, he'd been looking at her. Not strangely, but with a fond smile and looking out for her when he could and even now she is making him smile, if only a little.

But there isn't time for this.

Someone hurt Jack and he needs to make sure they do not get away with it, because no one is allowed to hurt Jack, not even him, who whose touch blackens all he comes in contact with, the embodiment of fear who has killed so many. A dark gleam alights in Pitch's eyes.

Yes, he may not remember much from before his time as Pitch Black, but quite a lot of killing had been involved, and torture as well. His less used skills will finally be put to work on someone who deserves it, on someone he will feel no regret absolutely destroying.

The townspeople whisper in undertones of the cursed forest, a portion of which has somehow been almost completely frozen over.

Pitch glides through them unseen but for a couple of children who pale upon seeing him and make themselves scarce or cling to someone they know, a frightful look in their eyes. A young girl who can't be more than six or seven years old catches his attention, the fear in her an almost palpable thing and he flitters from a shadow in the eave of a carpenter shop to the shadow of the well she sits upon.

She "eep!"s when he greets her in smooth tones.

"Why are you so frightened, child?" he asks. "Surely it cannot be solely me who is responsible."

She shakes her head, curly dark brown locks flailing and wide brown eyes set in a brown face look at him with terror and a bit of respect.

"Is it the forest?"

A mute nod and she shivers a bit.

Pitch frowns. "Did you see something? Someone?"

She hesitates, then speaks in a small voice. "There's a spirit there. Mama says it's too dangerous to go in too far, but I was picking mushrooms and-" She clamps her mouth shut, her fear a cold thing tinged with spices.

"Did you see a girl with white hair?" Pitch tries not to let the urgency in his voice show.

The little girl nods, biting her lip. "It was so scary," she whispers, her knuckles white as she clenches them against her knees. "The trees were alive and she screamed and there was ice everywhere."

Pitch bites down on a growl. There's no use in scaring the girl if he wants to be forewarned about the spirit in the forest. Though from the sound of it...

"Was it a woman who made her scream?" he asks. "Or a man?"

"I... a man," the girl says, frowning. "He was very pretty though." She shivers. "He laughed when she screamed, like he liked it."

This time a growl does make it through and the girl looks twice as scared as before. "Don't worry," he says, and the irony that he is trying not to scare a child is not lost on him. "I'm not angry at you. The girl in the forest... she's my friend, she was hurt and I'm trying to find who did it."

"Oh." The little girl looks at him with wide eyes, but in surprise, not fright. "The Bogeyman has friends?"

"Only the one," Pitch grits out, then goes to leave.

"I hope she gets better soon," the girl calls after him.

So do I, Pitch thinks before disappearing through shadow.

"Lala!" The girl turns to see her mother coming towards her. "It's time to go home now."

"Okay." Lala takes her mother's hand as they walk towards their camp on the outskirts of town.

"Who were you talking to at the well?" her mother asks curiously, and not a little suspicious.

"The Bogeyman," Lala says matter of factly. "His friend was hurt in the forest."

Her mother's eyes widen and she says a prayer under her breath while clutching her daughter's hand tighter.

Pitch appears among several trees that are completely covered in ice. From what the little girl in the town had said, it sounds like he is dealing with some sort of faery. The trees coming alive had made him suspect a dryad for a moment, but dryads usually only act in defense of their own tree, and Jack wouldn't attack a tree for no reason, nor were dryads that sadistic. Plus dryads were female and not male. Add to the fact the girl said the man was pretty... Yup, probably a member of the Fae.

He reins in his temper and suppresses the urge to start tearing things apart with his shadows. He wants to draw this out, make it painful, and it won't do to tip his hand early.

"Well well, why does the Nightmare King come to my forest?"

Pitch bites down a snarl. "I heard whispers in the town of a cursed forest," he says in a voice like silk. "I was curious as to what could possibly be causing so much... fear."

A giggle, and then a small figure, a slight man about three feet tall and floating a foot off the ground, appears, hands clasped together. "How delightful! For the Nightmare King to visit me, a true pleasure!"

"It's interesting, how you've decorated," Pitch muses, glancing about pointedly at the frozen trees. "However did you manage?"

"Oh, that." The faery scowls. "Some winter sprite came through my forest the other day without even a how do you do. Taught him a lesson as to what happens when you don't mind your manners." His lips tilt up in a slight smirk. "Begged very nicely though, and his screams were very pretty, like a girl's. Didn't expect him to be quite so powerf- urk!"

A shadow spears through the faery, pinning him to a tree. "That "sprite" is my friend," Pitch growls, the forest darkening dramatically as shadows came to life and writhed around them. "And for what you did, for how you hurt her, I'm going to make you pay."

The faery's screams echoed throughout the forest as the Nightmare King slowly and painfully tore him apart.

A/N: Cliffhanger~

Hey, whattya know, I'm actually keeping to the update schedule! :D Next week will be Schismatic, then AWW, then back to Shadow Bride, and repeat. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and remember to review!

Anon review replies:

Guest (from chap 9): Glad you're liking the story! Hopefully you enjoy this chapter too :)

Guest (from chap 4): Ha ha, sorry to burst your bubble, but there will probably be no jealous!Bunny ^^; Well, maybe, I haven't really decided yet. I guess we'll have to get to the parts of the story that actually involves the Guardians first -.-;;