Shadow

Chapter 5

Dedicated to the readers who have gotten this far and have left some wonderful and incredibly encouraging reviews.

Also, warning: this chapter contains mentions of castration and some stronger language.

[January 28th, 2014]

It was fairly obvious to any one of the feathered witnesses in Punjam Hy Loo, that Jack was still not a good flyer. At least, if his landing skills were anything to go by. After stumbling for quite a bit, Jack finally managed to regain his footing and was now caught up in finding the Tooth Fairy herself. Mini Tooth meanwhile let out a squeak of protest, her stomach definitely not appreciating the landing.

"Come on, it wasn't so bad? Was it?" Jack inquired with a chuckle when he saw her fly out of his pocket, in an almost drunk manner, complaining in muffled chirps about how she should have just flown here on her own.

The small fairy definitely seemed to think so.

Thankfully, they managed to spot Toothiana soon, buzzing about her massive palace, clearly looking distracted and nervous, as she constantly shifted her attentions amongst fairies, never really finishing an order before giving out another one. In her business she had not taken the time to look where she was flying, for she crashed into Jack minutes later, just as he was about to call to the wind and move over to her. "Oh, sorry about - Jack, you're here!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening slightly as her body hit his, but then calming down a little.

A small part of him wondered if it really had been something to do with Pitch. Apparently not, though.

"Hey, Tooth - anything new?" he asked, as he pulled back a little.

There was a faint redness to Toothiana's cheeks, probably out of embarrassment. "Well..." she hesitated, before reaching out to take his arm, deciding to show him instead. The male tensed for a bit, not expecting the sudden contact, but followed her willingly as she led him deeper into her castle.

Despite never being a huge fan of books - one tended not to be when they had never been taught how to read in the first place - he had to admit, Tooth's choice to take him to the library was a good one. Here they wouldn't be disturbed by half as many fairies, or anyone that was not a fairy. Only Baby Tooth was here besides the two of them and she could be trusted not to say anything. "So... what was this you were going to talk to me about?" he asked, as he looked around the room, his mouth gaping when he saw the tall shelves stacked full with various books. He could bet a large amount of these books had to do with teeth, or some other branch of biology. It was cool, even if he couldn't relate to her desire to hoard books. Then, he averted his gaze to Toothiana, who seemed to be fishing inside her mind for the best possible way to tell him whatever she was about to speak to him about.

"There is something I wanted to show you - I know you will probably not remember this, I did check your memories before seeking you out," she explained, with a sheepish smile, "I hope that you don't mind that I looked into your past..."

Jack frowned, but accepting that she was after all a Guardian of memories, he nodded. "No, that's fine," he respond, a twinge of curiosity and concern surfacing when he finally processed the part where she claimed he did not remember something. He had checked his memories after all. What else was there to know that had not been there before? Surely everything in his past was in that tiny box. As absurd as the idea might have once been to him, he didn't want to think that as soon as he accepted a set of rules, the rules suddenly changed. Having just walked out of one roller coaster ride, there was no chance he would want to go on another one for a good long time.

Tooth took out a container of teeth - one that clearly was not his, judging by the painted face on it. This past had belonged to a girl. Unfortunately, not his sister. He reached out to the box, tentatively. "So, what do I have to do with this girl?"

"Woman. She is a parent now. A grown up," the fairy clarified for him, before helping Jack open the human's memories. Of course, Jack, not really being connected to the human consciousness and subconsciousness in the way some other spirits were, could only really access his own memories. Still, once Tooth had helped him access it, Jack found himself being sucked into the history of another human being. Shock crossed his face, and even if he did not move in the present, the real world, his facial expression did change as it did when he stood in the memory realm.

'What the-?!'

His eyes widened when he realised that Jamie had never really been his first believer. Guilt kicked him in his stomach and chest. His breathing grew shallow. "I..."

School was finally over for the day.

As it was, her time with Shadow was not. He was currently walking by her side, clearly not concerned by the other people's ideas of him being Amity's cat. Perhaps it even was synonymous 'friend' for the inhuman male, what with his strange views of the world. She would not have been surprised if it was indeed.

"You know I am not allowed any animals inside my house, right...?" she inquired, seeing the black feline follow her proudly even as they neared her home. His tail and head held high, as if he owned the place. Well, at least one of them was confident about something. Anything.

She paused at her doorstep, convincing the cat to stop too, watching him settle down on the pavement. His ears flicked to the side, his tail twitched a little. Perhaps he had expected her to let her in. For now, though, he patiently waited for her invitation. Or perhaps it was because he could not reach the door handle in this form. Yes, that was the more likely opinion. She guessed that being a cat also did not come with his very creepy other abilities. The one thing she was certain of though, was that this was definitely shadow. He had the exact same eye colour, and was currently staring her down in anticipation.

Sighing, she assumed that he would stubbornly wait for her to invite him anyway. "Fine, but don't blame me if my mum kicks you out the house," the girl gave in, opening the door and stepping inside, followed by the cat.

Naturally, her former friend took the opportunity to explore the house, clearly showcasing that his new form was rubbing off on him, encouraging curiosity. Walking into the living room, he pounced on the couch, immediately claiming it as his as he lay his furry body on the soft seat. 'Great,' Amity thought to herself, already dreading her mother's reaction, 'now how am I going to get all that fur off the couch?' Shadow on the other hand didn't seem terribly concerned, as he swivelled his head around to look at the girl, appearing content. Perhaps it was because she was no longer pushing him away. At least, not as much. But if he thought he was getting treats for the stunt he pulled earlier he would definitely be wrong.

As it were, this was apparently the perfect time for her mother to walk downstairs, for she appeared in the living room just moments after Amity had settled on the couch beside Shadow. Unsurprisingly, she was not anywhere near pleased with the cat's presence. "What is a cat doing here...?" she asked, looking to Amity and the scrutinising the cat, looking at it more like it was the devil.

It was not even as though Sarah didn't like cats. She just... Wasn't a fan. Besides, this cat looked incredibly suspicious, even to Amity, for reasons she could not quite figure out. Feeling too comfortable to move from the couch, the uninvited guest simply let out a ''mrrrooww'', greeting the mother casually, with a lazy flick of the tail.

Well, at least one person in this house was taking this well.

"And why does it not have a collar?"

"This has to be wrong. There has to be a mistake!" Jack insisted, not about to believe that somehow, for some mysterious, moon-forsaken reason, he had forgotten about something of this magnitude. Taking a few hesitant steps back, the young spirit shook his head, even as Toothianna tried to reach out to him, to comfort him. Alas, all she could do was stand by and watch as the male backed away slowly as if suddenly she too had become a stranger to him.

Sometimes people had to help themselves before someone else could. In this instance, it was much the same. Before Toothianna could help him deal with the issue at hand, he had to accept that it was in fact an issue. That this all had in fact happened and that he had forgotten all of it.

"No. Sarah probably doesn't even exist any more," he continued to deny it all, making Toothianna wince. That girl did exist. The woman does exist. Not that Toothianna could convince someone who clearly did not want to be convinced. And so she turned away from him.

"Make of it what you will," she spoke softly. "If you doubt the teeth, that is your thing. Teeth rarely lie though, Jack, so remember that before you tell me again that those memories aren't real. I'll let you figure things out - I have work to do now." With that, she left him in the library, with Baby Tooth watching over the young Guardian. She did not expect any of this to be easy for Jack. After all, he had just become a Guardian and now he had to deal with something that was solely his responsibility.

The door behind Jack shut, leaving Jack to pace around the library, gritting his teeth in frustration and trying to figure out whose idea was it to mess with him so. Maybe it was even a prank set up by Bunny to get back at him for last time. 'Wouldn't that be amusing to the rabbit,' Jack thought miserably and he threw away the container, only for Baby Tooth to catch it just before he hit the ground, giving him a quick and loud scolding. The male dismissed her words, sitting down on a table, 'haha, I'm laughing Aster. Real funny prank you pulled there.' Not that the rabbit could hear his thoughts and certainly not all the way from Australia. Then again, Jack would gladly tell that to the kangaroo's face.

It was not the rabbit, unfortunately. Even Jack knew that Aster had little effect on a person's memories and had no abilities that would wipe out the contents of anything, much less a magical memory container. So he was back at square one and still confused.

Baby Tooth meanwhile still continued chirping, attempting to get Jack's attention. In vain too, as he reached out his hand and pushed her away, harder than he thought he could, having forgotten how small she was compared to his hand. Even the mini fairy was starting to get frustrated with the winter sprite, but he still did not seem to care, instead, looking down at his lap, frowning deeply. She made the attempt to tug at his sleeve, at his hood, but every time he would send her flying and she would only narrowly dodge a book shelf or a wall.

"No... no..." Jack murmured, still, emotions stabbing at him.

Never in 300 years had he felt this mortal again. He'd always thought of himself invincible, with perhaps the only exception to that being all the times he had been around Pitch. The boogeyman, he'd thought, was the only person who could ever really make him feel vulnerable, but even then it was never to this degree.

"Jack..."

A small voice whispered to him and yet he pushed it out of his mind.

That was not real. None of this was real. He had never met this human, never had been friends with her and he certainly never kissed her. Or any human for that matter. He'd never even heard of such a thing. He tensed, pausing to think about it.

Still, maybe it had happened before. A relationship between a human and a Guardian.

Jack looked up, needing to find answers. Either this was all false and someone was messing with him and perhaps even messing with some poor human woman who had no idea of what her past was really like because of some bastard. Perhaps even Pitch was that bastard. He'd done terrible things before, so this wasn't exactly below him.

Or, if this was real, there had to be a reason why he had forgotten. There had to be more spirits than just him, whom this had happened to. After all, the Guardians had all lived much longer than him and all of them had been believed in for a very long time. Finally, he could see Baby Tooth before him. He couldn't see her anger, no, but at least he was no longer pushing her away. "You know how to read, Baby Tooth, right?" a twinge of desperation surfaced in his voice. She was after all the creation of someone who clearly could read. After all, what illiterate person would bother building a library like this one?

The mini-fairy bobbed her head slowly her anger replaced by curiosity.

"Do you know if there's any books on magic... and you know, that sort of stuff?" he continued. Another nod. "So, maybe you can help me find if this memory is real or not, and how we could figure that out, or how we could figure out why I don't remember any of this...?"

Clearly, Baby Tooth did not understand his scepticism. Or his denial. She was fully convinced that the memories were right. Real. She was however willing to prove this much. She narrowed her eyes at him in determination and chirped, flitting off to find those books. All Jack could do, was watch and wait, hoping that this was just a mix up, a mistake. It would definitely be easier that way. He could deal with whatever joker was attempting to wreck havoc on Earth.

After a long and surprisingly tiring day, Pitch was ready to curl up on the couch and take a nice, long cat nap in the warmth and comfort of someone else's home. After all, he had spent all day running after Amity, as his cat legs were nowhere near as long as those of his spirit form. Besides, this place lacked nowhere near as much warmth as his own lair. In his cat form, that place would have been freezing and he was aware he would need to regenerate his energy in one way or another before he could shift back. One of the many drawbacks of having been defeated by Guardians.

So when the woman came in, clearly demanding of him to leave her house, he felt anything but obliged to follow through with her silent orders, instead taking things with a little bit of sass. As a cat, he thought he might just get away with it, but clearly, Sarah was not impressed.

'Collar?!' he thought, finding the very idea absurd. 'It?!' Yowling in offence, he looked to Amity to defend his dignity.

"I'm fairly sure he's a male, mum..." was all Amity managed.

'You're fairly sure?!' What on earth did she mean by that? Was there any doubt that he was a male? Why -!

Sarah rolled her eyes, both at the cat and at her daughter, clearly not bothered whether the animal her daughter had brought in was a male, a female or a genderless legendary Pokemon who coincidentally looked suspiciously like a regular house cat. "Regardless, he does not have the right to be in this house. He is clearly a stray, with a coat filled with ticks, fleas and who knows what else." The woman walked up to Pitch, who backed away, watching her cautiously. His fur bristled a little.

'And you have no right to touch me, or call me flea-ridden, lady!'

Amity who was watching this exchange in silence, came up behind Pitch. "Well, then, maybe we could give him a home...?" she offered innocently, completely dismissing the whole issues with parasites lurking in cat fur, or the numerous issues any feline would bring to the house. His ears perked up. She had his attention now, certainly. After all, what was this quick change of heart about? She could not have considered them to be friends again... could she?

"Even if you were the one to take care of the veterinary fees for that," her mother's voice softened a little, though her eyes were still pinned on Pitch, "we don't even know he's litter-trained, or if he can behave whilst both of us are gone. Think about the damage a single cat can cause."

Behind him, Amity was clearly stifling a laugh, for darkness knows what reason. When her mother shifted her gaze to her daughter, however, she fell silent, possibly out of shame. "I promise I'll make sure he behaves himself," the girl insisted.

Tch. As if he needed someone to supervise his behaviour - he was perfectly good at behaving himself, thank you. Besides, what sort of person did Sarah think he was if she accused him of shredding perfectly good furniture and shitting on carpets and in flower patches? Even as a cat, he was a lot smarter than any of those brainless twits! He squirmed a little in discomfort just at the thought of acting like any ordinary feline. Still, he refused to budge from the couch. There was no way he could let a human chase him out of a house, any house.

However, the girl's attempts did seem to finally work, though only after she pulled him into her arms, holding him away from her mother. Pitch squirmed for a good while, trying to free himself from the embrace, but ceased when it seemed to have worked. He might as well play along if it meant getting his way.

"Alright..." Sarah sighed, her gaze softening too. "Though, he is definitely getting neutered if he isn't already. I don't want to have the owners of a dozen cats dump their kittens with us after this guy's had a stroll around the block," she added seriously, folding her arms in that no-nonsense manner.

Then and there, Pitch actually realised that maybe embraces weren't so bad when he shrunk back into Amity's arms in terror. There was no doubt that she could practically feel his body tremble at the very suggestion. His new "owner" laughed nervously. "I'm not sure he appreciates the idea..."

Not that it mattered, as Sarah wasn't letting that vet appointment go now. "And he'll be wearing a collar at all times."

Ordinarily Pitch might have even thought to himself, 'well, you win some, you lose some,' if it only regarded the collar. Maybe even grudgingly accepted it as some sort of wacky emo necklace to wear around his neck, that would itch a little, but otherwise, not cause all that many problems. Perhaps it would hurt his pride a little, but... hey. However, getting any part of him surgically removed?! The thought angered him as much as it terrified him. Despite Pitch's excellent regenerative powers, he doubted some things could even be regenerated to such a degree, and besides, did that woman even know how painful it would probably be?

"We can work with the collar," Amity murmured, having sensed his own fear. "Can't we?" she asked, directing the question to the cat himself, effectively snapping him out of his thoughts.

Though Pitch did not say anything, still traumatised, Sarah took his response as a yes.

"Alright, welcome to the family..."

"Shadow," Amity supplied her mother, "his name will be Shadow."

Sarah frowned, clearly curious about the choice of name, but decided to go with it. Secretly though, she was wondering why her daughter hadn't instead named her first cat Spot, or Captain Fluff, or Blackie... or just any other name that sounded more like a pet name. Even just Tom would do. "Sure." She shrugged. "Dinner's at six, by the way." With that, the woman walked off into the kitchen, leaving the cat and the younger human standing there, one still in his own little world and the other confused.

"I really didn't think I'd get away with that..."

'Well, you are certainly not getting away with that vet appointment.' The girl was lucky that he had decided on sticking around for more reasons than a couch, otherwise he would have darted out this house as soon as her mother had mentioned castration.

Right, so I moved this story here instead. Might as well.

Also, I will not change Jack to literate just because some people think that America was ahead of everyone else in literacy because of a few vague articles that link to more vague articles and references which I cannot get access to. So he will remain illiterate, being born and raised somewhere in the very early 1700s, and having not a care in the world about education, or even about shoes. His father is not present and he would have probably had other responsibilities. Plus, he doesn't need to be good at everything.

I am fully aware that he lived in Burgess Pennsylvania, that does not mean he necessarily had access to education.