Jackie decided that the woods were unusually dark today.
Not that this was surprising, it was evening, in the winter, with a cloudy sky. Adding to that, the sun had set fifteen minutes ago, but even then it shouldn't be this dark.
It was slightly concerning, but given what she was planning on doing, it wouldn't last.
Jackie got to her usual clearing and set up the camera and tripod, hit the record button and moved back, using her flashlight to light up her face.
"Attempt number..." Jackie paused to think, "104? We'll go with that. 104."
She turned off the flashlight, took a deep breath and thought the rhyme instead of saying it. As she started to light up, she felt something sharp on the back of her neck.
Suddenly alert, a sharp shard of ice formed in her hand as she turned to slash her attacker, hair whipping around to also hit them in the face. As she turned she got a glimpse of her opponents face, sheathed in darkness and shadow, and she smirked.
So, we're doing it like this then?
Her assailant disappeared into the shadows and Jackie stood still, ice shard forming into a dagger. She stilled her breathing, listening intently and spreading frost across the grass and bare ground.
The only light was coming from the recording light from Jackie's camera, so relying on sight wasn't going to work. Instead, Jackie focused on the frost as it crawled silently across the ground.
Something stepped across the frost to her left. Carefully placed, silent footsteps, taking advantage of the fact that Jackie couldn't see.
Jackie waited until the last moment, the foot position telling her that her opponent was preparing for a strike. She then leaned back to dodge as the sword went down, metal whistling in the night air, signalling the attack.
The sword thudded into the ground, giving Jackie a short window to grab her attacker, flip them around and rest the ice dagger across the their neck.
The two stood there for a second, before the attacker suddenly said.
"How the fuck did you do that?"
"You think I'm really going to say?" Jackie's smirked before letting go and stepping back. "Also, your shadows were obvious from the moment I stepped into the woods."
"I thought I picked a good night too," Paura sighed before sheathing her sword, normal steal instead of the lead one. "Seriously, how did you know I was there?"
"I'm not telling," Jackie responded in a sing song voice, walking over to the camera to stop it recording. She would be sure to delete that particular video.
"And you're infuriating," Paura responded in a similar voice.
"You expected anything less?" Jackie flicked on her flashlight, shining it roughly in Paura's direction. "Also, is seeing in the dark a power of yours?"
"You think I'm telling you that?" it was Paura's turn to smirk.
"Touche."
Paura looked around the clearing. "So, why exactly do you come out here? With a camera of all things?"
"I haven't told anyone, sorry, but I'm not telling you either."
"Alright, nice seeing you. You crazy fucker," Paura raised her hand in farewell.
"Language, seriously!" Jackie called after her, turning back to the camera as Paura laughed.
"You're still not my mother!"
Her presence on the frost faded, and after a few minutes to make sure she was gone, Jackie hit the record back on.
"Attempt 104."
Jackie started her preparation again. As always, her body glowed in time with her breathing. Concentrating, she focused the power into her fist and held it there.
It stayed there, her right fist glowing so brightly it hurt Jackie's eyes. It had taken so long just to be able to get to this point. Now she had to keep the flow regulated so it wouldn't explode. It could be done, as long as she didn't have any distractions.
"What the fu-?"
BOOM
Jackie groaned as she came to. It was the first that had happened in a little while. Thankfully she had missed the trees, instead she was in what remained of the dead leaves and forest debris. With another groan she forced herself to sit up, and with a wince she clutched her head. Her head was going to ache until tomorrow morning.
Her flashlight had been thrown to the other side of the clearing, it's light still shining. Jackie carefully stood up, one hand clutching her head and the other outstretched to feel her way along.
It took about ten minutes of shuffling for her to reach the flashlight, and about thirty seconds of wincing to the bend down and pick it up. Her limbs felt like jelly, and even though the frost still crunched under feet, she couldn't sense it.
It was incredibly unnerving.
Jackie cast her flashlight around the clearing to get an idea of the damage, and the light fell on a figure near the edge of it.
"Oh by moon!" Jackie moved over as fast as her pounding head would allow her. Paura was curled up in the shadow of a tree, where she had retreated to once she had come to.
"Don't shine that on me!" she groaned as loudly as she could, and Jackie partially followed that, keeping her out of the worst of the light.
Jackie's eyes widened as she took in the damage. Paura's already scarred face was burnt, along with her left hand. Her right hand wasn't so bad, but still looked red and sore.
"What in darkness did you do?" Paura groaned, and Jackie swallowed.
"Where does it hurt?" she asked, ignoring the question.
Paura, thankfully, answered it.
"Got me good in the chest. My clothes blocked some of it, but by darkness that hurts!"
Jackie's mind spun with ideas. If she was at normal strength, she could use ice to ease the burns, but that wasn't an option. Neither was hospital; Paura didn't officially exist, too many question would be raised. HOG base, definitely not.
Her house, maybe. If she could get Taboo to distract Jamie.
"Can you stand?" she asked, and Paura gave it go. The umbrakinetic groaned and rose stiffly, almost falling back down before Jackie caught her.
Paura yelped in pain, but Jackie ignored that as she looped the older woman's arm over her shoulder.
"Lean on me," Jackie instructed, not that Paura had much of a choice.
The began to leave the clearing, Jackie's flashlight lighting the way as she avoided the worst of the obstacles.
"You can barely hold me up," Paura commented as they trudged through the dead leaves and dry twigs. "You're shaking."
It was true, Jackie's whole body was weaker than it normally would be, and her legs trembled with every step.
"I'm fine," Jackie insisted. "Better than you."
"I should at least be able to shadow travel out of here."
"Not in your condition, and do you really want to explain where those burns came from?"
"Alright, alright," Paura sighed, before realising something. "Where are we going?"
"My house."
"We're going to HOG?!" Paura sounded understandably alarmed at the idea, even if Jackie was a little confused.
"No, I don't live at the HOG base," Jackie explained like it was obvious.
"Oh yeah, you half live in the rest of the world," Paura sighed in relief before wincing.
"Yeah. That's why we're not going to the hospital, you don't officially exist."
"Normally we go to one in Canada or the UK, don't have to pay," Paura explained. Despite the injury to her abdomen, talking seemed to help keep her mind off the pain.
"Makes sense, but shadow travel is off the cards."
"Yes mom," Paura's eye rolling was nearly audible.
It took the pair of them the best part of an hour to even reach the lake. Jackie had recovered a little; her legs weren't shaking as much. However Paura was getting worse, her body becoming heavier and heavier.
Once at the lake Paura's legs gave out completely and Jackie scrambled to catch her before she cracked her head open on the ice.
"I got you, I got you," Jackie tried to reassure, but her arms shook as she tried to hold on. In the end she had to prop Paura against the rocks by the lake before sitting down herself.
"Paura, you still with me?" Jackie asked, waving her hand in front of Paura's dark eyes. Paura thankfully responded, blinking and nodding.
"Still with it," she groaned. "Hurt's like fuck, but with it."
"I'm not going to mention the swearing."
"You just did," Paura wheezed out a chuckle, before wincing in pain. "Seriously, what was that?"
"Classified," Jackie responded, and Paura let out another laugh.
"You'd better know how to handle injuries from it."
"Working on it. We need to move," Jackie got up again and slung Paura's arm over her shoulder. "C'mon, let's go. My house isn't far from here."
"Thank darkness," Paura wheezed.
Like they were in some bizarre three legged race, the two made their way up the hill to Jackie's house. It was a fairly large, old looking house. Probably not as old as it looked, but when the kids were old enough for Halloween, it would like quite impressive.
Hey, Taboo?
"What?"
Distract Jamie for me.
"Why?"
Long story, just do it, please.
"Since you asked so nicely."
Taboo's presence faded a little as she went to bother Jamie, and Jackie heaved Paura up the path and into the porch.
"Almost there," Jackie assured, "almost there."
There was a tense few seconds as Jackie had to find her keys, then get them in the door to unlock it.
The two nearly fell through the front door, and with a a few more near misses and a lot of grunting and groaning, Paura was finally draped across the couch.
"I'm going to turn on the light," Jackie thought out loud, standing up to go do so.
"Please don't," Paura groaned, and Jackie looked over.
"Does the light hurt?"
"Don't be stupid," Paura snorted, "it's just, a little uncomfortable."
"Okay," Jackie wasn't sure she entirely followed, but noe not the time for an interrogation. "I'll need some light to assess you're injuries," she added, going back over.
"So, you're a doctor now?" Paura tried to joke.
"Now, but I've seen enough training and fighting injuries to make an educated guess." Jackie flicked on a nearby desk lamp, causing Paura to flinch a bit, but otherwise not complain. "Do you mind me looking at your abdomen?"
"Go for it. No need to make it more awkward than it already is. I'll also try not mention that your hands are freezing."
Jackie decided that she was too tired to have a comeback, or care as she rolled up Paura's jumper.
Her entire abdomen was black with blossoming bruises, while her chest was burnt pink, not nearly as bad as her face or hands however.
"Given how bad that hurts," Paura spoke up, "I would guess that my ribs are broken."
"I'd agree," Jackie responded. "Doesn't explain the lack of strength you had."
"That light, whatever it was, did that. I think," Paura sighed. "You know, it's what I think being attacked by Nightlight would be like."
Despite herself, Jackie froze. She quickly recovered and left the room.
"I'm going to get some ice!" she called. Once she got to the freezer she pulled out as many as ice cubes as she could find, along with frozen peas and loose frozen sweetcorn. She was quickly back in the living room and placing them in various appropriate areas on Paura.
"Don't tell me you've never heard of Nightlight?" she asked, wanting to continue the previous conversation.
"Yes, I've heard of Nightlight," Jackie confirmed. "I'm going to see if we've got some ice packs as well."
"This is enough you nutter. I'm not an ice cube like you," Paura sounded like she shivering and laughing at the same time.
"Alright, alright," Jackie sighed, sitting back on her heels and running a hand under her glasses.
Paura meanwhile stared up the ceiling, trying to decide if what she was going to say was because she delusional from pain or because, dare she say it, she actually was starting to trust her brother's killer.
"I know how the rest of the world sees Pitch," she started, and decided that she was definitely delusional.
"Huh?" Jackie responded intelligently. In truth she just wanted to sleep right about now.
"We're not stupid. To the rest of the world he's the Boogeyman, the Monster under the Bed, the Nightmare King. You don't get titles like that for being a nice guy. But, fear's important, you know?"
"Yeah, it is," Jackie agreed, and Paura turned her head sharply to look at her in surprise, causing Jackie to have to replace the bag of peas currently trying to help with the burn. "No need to look for surprised," Jackie added in shock. "There's a balance, I know that, and fear keeps people alive."
"Yeah, it does," Paura went back to staring at the ceiling. "Cath-Penelope probably told you, that Descendants of Pitch aren't supposed to feel fear," Paura let an unamused chuckle, "yeah, easier said than done, especially when you're a kid. Didn't help we had our own 'Boogeyman' figure," the word Boogeyman was in air quotes.
"The Descendants of the Bogeyman, have their own Bogeyman?" Jackie asked a little incredulously.
"Yes," Paura responded like it was obvious, "Nightlight was our Boogeyman."
That left Jackie stunned for a second, and then she realised, that made sense.
"The exact opposite of your ancestor," Jackie thought out loud, and Paura nodded.
"Exactly. It's said Nightlight's light could burn Pitch."
"Of course," Jackie sighed, sitting down heavily on the floor and putting her head in her hands. That's what it was. She was technically a Descendant of Nightlight, and her light had burnt a Descendant of Pitch.
"I'm so sorry," Jackie looked up, and Paura managed to look over without dislodging her bag of peas.
"What for?"
"That, was me. That light came from me."
Paura looked at her for a few seconds, clearly trying to figure it out.
"You're a Descendant of Jack Frost," she finally said, "Crossed lines don't happen. Or at least, don't manifest in double powers."
Jackie shifted uncomfortably. "This is strictly need to know. Got it? What I'm about to say doesn't leave this room."
Paura narrowed her eyes. "What's in it for me?"
"I could kick you out," Jackie responded nonchalantly, and Paura chuckled.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if you did that. I won't tell anyone."
Jackie took a second to prepare herself. "Jack Frost is Nightlight, just, not quite the same. No one knows exactly what happened," she added at Paura's clear confusion. "But Jack Frost and Nightlight are, somehow, one and the same."
"...Fucking hell."
"Language!" Jackie hissed, suddenly very aware of Jamie being in the house, and the maybe asleep, maybe not asleep little ones.
"That is huge," Paura looked up at the ceiling again. "And you in the clearing, that's you practising that?"
"Now you see why I go so far out of the way to practice that," Jackie commented dryly, and Paura nodded, Jackie having to the catch the frozen peas.
"Fair point, my fault I guess, I got curious," Paura justified.
"You'd think a lifetime as a Descendant would make you not want to go towards strange lights," Jackie replaced the peas.
"Not my best moment," Paura agreed. "So, how long have you known?"
"Just under a year."
"And, it's been exploding like that all year?"
"Not for the last couple of times," Jackie defended. "It's different from ice."
"I would guess so," Paura would have shrugged if she were able. "Although, some powers are easier to master if you have a certain temperament."
"Meaning?" Jackie was really too tired for this, and her head was still pounding.
"Meaning, if you have a lighter demeanour, light powers are easier to handle. You, Davies, are too dark natured. Not saying it's impossible, you'll just find it harder."
"Well, that's lovely, and I'm shattered," Jackie yawned, then groaned when she realised something. "I left the camera in the woods."
"You look shattered, don't go back out there," Paura advised, and Jackie mimed shock.
"Paura Frica, concerned about my health?"
"Don't get used to it," Paura smirked. "Anyway, I should be alright down here."
"Sure? I can get Taboo to watch you."
"No thanks," Paura shuddered at the idea of that thing watching her,with it's frankly creepy (and this was coming from her) glowing blue eyes. "Just turn out the light and let me stew in the dark. I'll heal quicker that way."
"Don't you need light for there to be shadows?"
"Leave the curtains open," Paura rolled her eyes again. "I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? None of us know anything about these kinds of burns."
"I'll be sure to send you a detailed report," Paura's voice was thick with sarcasm.
"No need for that," Jackie raised her eyebrows at the sarcasm, before standing up and switching off the light, plunging the room into gloom. "I'll get some food for you."
"You don't have to," Paura called after her as Jackie left the room.
"You're a guest!" Jackie called back as she prepared a sandwich and a glass of water, both of which she left on the coffee table.
Paura just stared at it like she wasn't sure why it was there. "What's being a guest got to do with it?"
Jackie sighed heavily. "I'm too tired to explain, when you get back to where you live, look up 'guest traditions' and it might answer a few of those questions. In the meantime, goodnight!"
"Night, I guess," Paura responded, getting comfy on the couch. Well, as comfortable as she could with broken ribs and essentially blocks of ice on her body.
Jackie went upstairs, where Jamie was entertaining J, who was clearly struggling to go to sleep. Taboo was sat next to him, occasionally tickling J with her tail. Surprisingly, his squeals of laughter weren't waking the twins; the two were curled up like squishy pink puppies in their crib.
J quickly noticed Jackie and beamed. "Mama!" he called, and Jamie looked over his shoulder at Jackie.
"Hey Ice Cube," he smiled. "What took you so long?"
"Shattered from the Nightlight stuff," Jackie leant against the doorframe, the half lie easily slipping out. "Took a little while to get up the stairs. Oh, and Taboo, I left the camera in the woods."
"I'll get it," Taboo rolled her eyes before lumbering to her feet. She gave J one last tickle before stalking past Jackie. "And shall I disturb our, guest?" she growled out the last word.
Ignore her.
"She's tried to kill you, several times."
We have an agreement, and she's exhausted as well. So leave her be.
Taboo growled in irritation, but stalked off.
"What was that about?" Jamie asked, putting a now yawning J down, certainly a lot later than his normal bedtime.
"Taboo being Taboo. Sarcastic and grumpy," Jackie shrugged before yawning. "I'm going to bed."
"Alright, I'll be there in a bit," Jamie ruffled J's fluffy dark hair fondly. Jackie smiled and left to get ready for bed.
It was only as she trying to fall asleep did she realise something. Paura nearly said another name instead of Penelope's. However, she was too tired to go back down and ask, so decided to ask when she inevitably woke up for her small hours run.
However, when she did wake up, and went downstairs to check, the couch was empty. The various frozen things had been put back in the freezer, the water drained and the sandwich plate put by the sink.
On the table was a piece of paper, most likely torn from Jackie's sketchbook which was lying idle on the side. In scrawling handwriting there was a message.
'Hey
Thanks for the food, and the help. With all our history, I wouldn't have blamed you if you had decided to leave me there. But then, if you weren't like that, I'd have killed you that night.
The burns feel a lot better, and I can explain away the ribs, so don't worry about me. I'll be back to ambush you in the woods again soon enough.
Finally, I did notice my slip up. I doubt she told this, but Penelope's real name was Catherine. I think she dropped it when she was a kid.'
The note ended there, as Paura had wisely not signed it.
Jackie scanned it in the half light of the moon, before putting it carefully into her pocket. Paura was a weird one all right. Ones born into lines tend to be.
Foul language, thy name is Paura Frica.
So, a couple of things. First, the different spellings of Bogeyman. That was an intentional Britishism. Boogeyman is the American spelling and pronunciation, and Bogeyman the British.
Also the temperament thing. Nightlight is a being of pure light and innocence, therefore in my mind someone with those qualities would have an easier time mastering Nightlight's powers. So someone like Alice Harper and the Beck twins would find it much easier to master this than Jackie.
The opposite I imagine is true for umbrakinetic Descendants of Pitch (not necessarily all umbrakinetics, could depend on which ancestor the power comes from) someone with a dark heart and more inclined to causing fear will find it easier. The sand thing I'm currently not sure on, probably come back to that.