LAST CHAPTER: Kozmotis leads Jack through a tunnel to his home, cooks him dinner, and shows him to his room with a little conflict.
Sympathetic!Pitch in this chapter :)
(This is NOT a Pitch x Jack story. But their interactions are important to the storyline.)
TRIGGERS: Meltdown
The sun feels amazing on my skin—something I never thought I'd feel again. The gentle warmth seeps into my blood and makes its way into my cold heart. The frost doesn't melt but the cold isn't as desperate; it doesn't stab at my chest and beg for a release. I've spent so long in Kozmotis' dark home, I've forgotten what the late-afternoon sun felt like.
I'm only able to admire it for a second before Kozmotis finally succeeds at calling over a stagecoach. I look down from my perch on the roof of a building and meet eyes with Pitch—silvery orange, a familiar fire. Something in the back of my mind whispers unease but I just brush it away and climb down the withered brick.
He opens the door and steps aside, gesturing for me to step in before him. I avoid meeting his eyes, just taking a seat once I'm inside. The thick, coarse wooden boards that make up the walls cause the interior to fester with hazy heat—easily three times hotter than outside. The stagecoach tilts and creaks out protests as Kozmotis steps up and takes the seat across from me, shutting the door.
The reinsman leans back and peers through the window.
"Where to?"
Kozmotis turns toward him and smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes. He pulls out a small bag of coins and tosses it into the reinsman's hand.
"You should know where by now, shouldn't you?" the reinsman just nods and turns back to face the front. He shouts something and we begin moving. The sound of the horses' hooves hitting the pavement rings through my ears and I lean back in my seat.
"Where are we going?" I ask. I lean my head on the side of the stagecoach and tap the wood with my finger. Thin frost branches out from the contact, only traveling a few centimeters from my skin. It melts after only a few seconds, leaving a dark spot on the wood.
Kozmotis lightly smacks my hand away from the wall.
"Do not damage it, please."
"I wasn't," I look at the wood, confused.
"It will warp the wood, Jack." his voice is laced in impatience and I sit up from my slumped position against the wall.
"Sorry." he just nods and pulls out a silver pocket watch from the confines of his thick robe—I don't know how he doesn't die of heat sickness in that thing.
Silence settles in the stagecoach. It wraps itself around me and settles on my shoulders like a thick blanket. It's comforting at first, but then it wiggles its way into my ears. The ringing progressively gets louder and louder until I can't take it anymore.
"Where are we going, Pitch?" it comes out a lot snappier than I intended. I cover my mouth and whisper an apology. He rolls his eyes and puts his pocket watch back where it came from.
"Just be patient, you will see soon enough."
"And... how long would that be?"
He doesn't reply right away, and at first I think he's just going to end the conversation there. But he does eventually reply; he tells me it's a two hour ride. I huff and lean my head on the wall. The frost in my heart oozes into my veins and I feel the freezing temperature fester with impatience. I begin to feel claustrophobic in here and I need to move; to do something, but the space is too small for me to even stretch my legs out.
A strange heat travels down my spine and burrows itself in my knees. I flick my fingers and try my best to stretch out my legs in the confined space but that just makes the heat and the impatience worse. The frost shoots from my heart to the veins in my legs and relieves the heat; but then the heat travels to my arms. I shake them, trying my best to get rid of the claustrophobic feeling before my frost does so itself.
But it's too late. The freezing cold seems to have a mind of its own and I feel it travel to my arms; too fast for me to even control it. I try to avoid touching anything around me but that makes the feeling worse and I stumble in my seat, catching myself on the wall.
Mistake.
The frost shoots out from my fingertips and travels from the wall across the ceiling. Flakes of it fall and Kozmotis looks up at the ceiling. I freeze and feel my heart beat faster with fright. I go to apologize but his booming voice shocks my ears and I rush to plug them, to block out the sound, to make it silent again.
But I can hear my blood when I do that and irrational anger bubbles in my stomach. I unplug my ears but I can still hear Pitch's sharp voice stabbing at my eardrums. I can hear the horses' hooves, the wheels of the stagecoach, the reinsman's commands, and it's too much. Too much. It's all too much.
I squeeze my eyes shut and grip at my hair, trying so hard to ground myself but everything is so loud and so bright and I can't breathe.
I can feel the cold in my heart travel through my whole body, trying so hard to calm the heated anger in my blood but it makes it worse. The feeling of the cold and the heat mixing turns my blood to an overwhelming slush and I scrunch myself in a ball to get it to stop. The texture of my cloak is too much for me and I rip it off, throwing it out the door before I can even stop and think.
I touch the seat and I touch the walls and the frost isn't frost anymore. The ice causes the temperature to drop and the sudden change only makes me want to scream.
"... get yourself together, Frost!" I unplug my ears again but the shock of his shrill shout brings tears to my eyes and I can feel them travel down my face, frosting to my skin.
"Sorry," I whisper. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
I don't feel when the stagecoach stops moving. I don't hear the horses' hooves stop beating my eardrums. I don't feel him place his hand on my shoulder and I don't feel myself step down from the stagecoach and I don't feel the sunlight on my skin. I don't feel myself walking away from the stagecoach and I don't feel Pitch's presence beside me. All I can feel is my blood festering with irritated heat and my frost trying its hardest to stop it, to calm me, to do its job.
"I'm sorry," I hear my voice crack and I feel the salty tears freeze on my cheeks. I feel myself start shaking and I feel the dread well itself in my veins. He's going to be so angry with me, he's going to be so mad and I'm such a monster and I'm sorry and-
I feel something wrap itself around me; guarding me, almost, from the noise and the bright lights and the fear of his anger.
"It's okay Jack," he whispers. I take a deep, shaky breath and feel him step away from me. He put his hands on my shoulders and looks into my eyes. "It's okay."
I nod, feeling the frost recede from my veins and the heat cool down. My vision clears and my ears slowly stop ringing.
Okay. It's okay.
All too soon, I feel the fear grip at my throat again and I gasp.
My cloak.
"Ko-Kozmotis, my-my cloak, I-" he holds up a hand and I go silent. He smiles—an attempt to reassure me, I'm sure.
"It's okay," he stands up straight, dropping his hand from my shoulder. "Let's go get it."
The stagecoach is still cool inside as I once again take my seat, cloak in hand. Kozmotis sits across from me and I'm vaguely aware of his conversation with the reinsman through the window but I pay them no mind. I bunch my cloak in a ball and hold it close to my chest, burying my face in the comforting cloth as I lean against the wall. The stagecoach begins to move again, but this time, the rhythmic rocking and the sound of the horses' hooves calm my nerves and satisfy my ears.
"Wake up, Jack," I feel someone gently shaking my shoulder.
I groan and burrow my face deeper into my pillow.
"No," I manage to mumble out before a yawn breaks through my lips and nestles itself in my pillow. I smile, comfortable, and begin to fall asleep again.
I feel myself being lifted and for a second I panic before realizing that it's probably Pitch and he wouldn't hurt me. He wants something from me; to get that, he wouldn't hurt me. At least I hope. But I open my eyes anyway.
My cloak, bunched in a ball, is cradled in my arms and I assume that was my 'pillow'. The stagecoach trots away from us and I'm set down in... grass? I don't remember the last time I saw grass. I look up but nothing is around except for trees and a strange, large gate.
"Uh... where are we?" I ask as I rub the remains of sleep from my eyes. Kozmotis smiles, his yellow teeth only vaguely reflect the sun.
"Why, Jack, do you not recognize this place?" a creeping sense of unease twists itself in my stomach like a dagger as I look around more closely. The gate is rotting with rust and two large, stone pillars sit on either side of it. A similarly rusty plaque sits on the stone and I walk close enough to read it.
My stomach clenches and I almost drop my cloak.
CHIAROSCURO ORPHANAGE FOR LOST CHILDREN
SYNOPSIS: Pitch takes Jack to the orphanage and on the ride there, Jack has a meltdown. At first, Pitch isn't understanding and yells at him, but seeing the clear distress that causes Jack, Pitch then helps him calm down.
Stay safe losers