Chapter 27
About a day or so into searching, Tooth finds Jack's teeth. The case remains on the ground, resting atop Jack's cowl, which she removed specifically for that purpose, so it would not have to rest for however long on the hard ground. It is so tempting, to open the case and see what, if anything, she was missing, but she knows that if she does that now it will delay her in finding Emma's teeth, and they've been apart for so long, it doesn't feel right to keep them separated longer than they have to be.
Time passes even less linearly than Jack is used to while she searches. There is light within the large column where teeth are stored, though Jack isn't quite sure of the exact source. It's bright enough that she can see clearly but she's deep enough that it can't be coming from the outside passages, and the top, while so far away she can barely see it, is closed off so the light can't be coming from there.
It reminds her a bit of Pitch's caves, but only in that they are both enclosed spaces. The cases of teeth themselves radiate a bit of magic that even she can feel, though whether that is because she has been looking at so many of them for so long remains to be seen. There is a quiet sense of melancholy as she searches the faces of children long gone, their memories all that remain.
She had brown eyes, Before. Brown eyes and brown hair, and Jack's eyes tingle warmly as she blinks back sudden tears. Maybe looking for Emma's face among those of children gone for so long is getting to her, maybe it's being alone in a mostly unknown place, maybe it's because she barely knows Tooth but the other spirit is actively trying to help her despite the Guardians and Pitch being at odds, but the overwhelming urge to scream grips her lungs and heart, and she barely muffles the sob that wrenches itself from her throat.
Jack curls into herself midair for several moments, the air plummeting in temperature as she tries to rein in this sudden influx of emotions. Tears freeze almost immediately after they form, leaving Jack to dash them away so they don't build up and leave her unable to see at all. Oh, this is grief, she realizes. Surrounded by the memories of children long dead, looking for her own sister, her own memories playing their own tempting siren's call, all in a palace belonging to the last member of a dead race, it's only odd that this happened before she actually had a chance to look at either of the memory cases.
Eventually she feels less like her heart is about to tear itself out of her chest. Her fingers spasm as she forcibly unclenches them from around her staff, which had been held close as she curled in on herself. She feels drained, like the times she spent in the first few years as a spirit where she'd found the most remote snowy places and just let loose, adding her own rage and despair to the storms already raging.
She touches down on the ground, thankful that she'd had enough control not to wreck her surroundings. The slight remnants of frost on neighboring shelves will melt soon enough in the face of the Tooth Palace's warm climate. Jack leans her staff against the shelves by her case and not so gracefully slumps to the floor, sprawled on her back like a starfish as she stares upward without actually looking.
When Tooth checks in on her several moments later she is still in that position. "Taking a break?" she asks, as if one of her helpers hadn't come to her ten minutes prior gesturing frantically.
"Yeah," Jack croaks, then clears her throat. "Yeah, taking a break."
"Do you want to take it out in the sun?" Tooth suggests. "A change of scenery might be good."
"...you know what, yeah." Jack pushes herself up into a sitting position. "It's not quite caves in here, but I could use some fresh air." She tugs her cowl to her, dragging the tooth case with it. A quick bit of folding later and it's tied around her waist with the case tucked into the folds. "I should really get something with pockets," she muses as she grabs her staff.
"I'm kind of surprised you kept the clothes," Tooth says almost nonchalantly as she leads them out.
Jack lets loose a mischievous little cackle. "I'll be honest, it was half to annoy the kangaroo, half lack of opportunity. They're comfortable, and my last shirt got wrecked in a fight. Haven't had time to go searching for a new one, so I figured may as well keep what I got till I find something else." She snickers. "If Pitch'd had his way I'd be all in black, but I managed to convince him I'd look like a damn ghost so we compromised."
They come out of the column and Jack squints at the increase in light. "Am I seeing things from being inside too long, or is that Mother Nature over there?"
Tooth chuckles. "You're not seeing things. She arrived a short time ago. I don't go out very often, so she comes to visit me instead."
"Ahh," Jack observes. The little flock of mini fairies that surround Mother Nature have almost the same lovestruck expression as the ones who had accosted Jack when she arrived, but Mother Nature sits there with the ease of someone who is long since used to it. "Mother Nature," she greets when they get close enough.
"Jack," Mother Nature replies with a small smile. "How are you doing?"
"Well enough," the winter spirit replies. "Tooth is, ah, helping me look for my teeth."
"Is she?" Mother Nature gives the Tooth Fairy a warm smile. "How very kind of her."
Tooth blushes and Jack grins as she asks with more than a little glee: "Are you two-?"
"Yes!" Tooth blurts, cutting Jack off in answer. Mother Nature's smile widens into a small grin, and for some reason it reminds Jack of Pitch. "Yes, we are, um, yes. We are together, much like, uhhhh…" She trails off, eyes darting between the other two spirits, her blush increasing for some reason.
"What, like me and Pitch?" Jack chuckles, leaning on her staff in amusement at Tooth's embarrassment.
"You and Pitch?" Mother Nature asks, and she is no longer smiling.
Jack blinks at the sudden switch. "Yeah," she says, her stomach sinking a little. "We got together recently."
"I see." There is a long silence where Mother Nature simply looks at Jack, whose stomach is now churning with nerves, while Tooth hovers nervously, wringing her hands and looking between them like she's preparing herself to break up a fight.
Mother Nature sighs, her eyes closing. "Well then, you may as well call me Seraphina."
"Oh...kay…?" Jack agrees half-heartedly, very confused. "If that's what you want M- Seraphina." The name feels awkward coming off her tongue, though it fits the regal beauty of Mother Nature.
"You may call me Mother Nature if you wish, I just think it may be odd considering you and my father are together."
...Her what.
"Your what?" Jack asks, voice an octave higher than usual.
Moth- Seraphina just looks at her and oh that is definitely Pitch's "I'm only going to repeat myself once for the idiots" expression. "Pitch Black is my father. I can only imagine it would be odd to call your lover's daughter Mother of any kind."
"Yeah no that would be, that would definitely be, yeah, that'd be weird!" Jack agreed, words coming out in a rush. A thought struck her. "Does he know?" she asks. "That you're…"
"Yes," Seraphina says. "He knows who I am."
"Okay," Jack replies weakly. "Cool. Good to know." A quick glance to the side shows her that Tooth looks as awkward as Jack feels, so there's that at least.
"I suppose congratulations are in order," Seraphina continues and at this point Jack kind of wishes she would stop talking. "For that, and the pregnancy."
Jack's brain goes absolutely blank. "The what?"
Seraphina: I'm about to end this girl's whole career
A cliffhanger! Haven't done one of those in a while, ah how I missed them xD Also congrats to me for managing to spend six hours on this chapter and dragging myself back to work on it several times bc a friend accidentally sent me into a spiral I'd just spent six months getting out of where I'd finally convinced myself it was okay to work on things bc they're fun and not solely to make money from them (:
In other news, my twitter StargateNerrrrd has pics of the resin dragons I've been working on if anyone is interested in that. I love making things just for the joy of making them, but feedback is always hella great.