This one starts getting dark from now on :o

Jamie was dead…. How could I have let him die… What happened? How?

I look down at the corps in my arms. Jamie is small, the age he was when we first met, and his body is pale and thin.

I'm a guardian, it is my job to protect them… and this… what did I do wrong… I look up around me, and I see his neighborhood. It was dark, I can see the red glow of fire in the distance, white ash fell down on us. It looked just like snow, only it was warm. Everything was warm. Hot, even. I haven't felt hot in a long time.

Was that how he died? Fire? I struggle to remember but can't… Around me in the street I see more small bodies of the children scattered around me. I hadn't noticed them before. They all looked like Jamie, thin, pale, and dead. This can't… this can't be right. There is no way, NO way they are all… What is happening...

I hear something, some kind of breathing, some kind of laughing. That laugh, it's Pitch. He did this… He killed them all! Why? Why would he kill children?!

I feel a pain up my back and in my lower body, it's a dull ache that throbs through me. Was I dying too? At this point I would deserve to…. If I let something like this happen… I had no business even being here. Maybe it was the heat.

The other guardians, where are they? Are they alright? I pan around looking desperately, clutching the limp Jamie in my arms close to my chest, as though I could somehow keep him safe there, though it was already too late.

I don't see the guardians anywhere. The pain in my body gets more noticable, it matches the pain I felt in my heart at the moment. I look down at Jamie in my arms. Such a small boy… he should have grown to live a long life. A happy life. He would have grown up big and tall, even taller than me perhaps…

Wait, wasn't he… already taller than me?

A horrifying screech startles me from behind, and I spin to see. Behind me is a huge black lake, with ash and black smoke slowly rising from it. What... is this? I see something in the center… some brightly colored mass halfway submerged in the black lake. Was that…. Tooth?!

I could see, it's Tooth, half of her small feathered body was barely visible, but I could tell it was her. She's sinking. I set Jamie down onto the grown gently, before sprinting towards the water. The other guardians were there too, I could see their half submerged bodies near her now. I scream for them, but my voice does not come out. Without thinking I leap inside the thick, tar-like liquid of the lake towards them, and I feel the tendrils quickly rap around my body and begin to pull me down. I try and struggle against them and push myself forward towards the others, but they are strong. I feel very hot now, I even begin to sweat, something I didn't know I could do. The waters were warm, but I couldn't focus on that, I had to help the others! I try again to scream for the guardians but my voice still fails me.

As I am pulled further and further down, the laughing/breathing gets louder and louder in my ears, the tentacle like arms begin holding me tighter and constrict my breathing. The pain in my body suddenly gets very intense, and I try to scream for my own sake.

I can hear my voice this time, but instead of coming out in a powerful scream, it slips through my lips in a strained groan. My eyes are blurry and I can't see well at all. The foreign breathing is loud and in my ears now, and I try to shift around to get my bearings, but the strong tentacles hold me down against the ground. Wait… are they tentacles? The more I wriggle, the more they feel like hands.

I hear myself groan more, as the throbbing continues. I am so confused, I can't tell what is going on. My head is spinning and I can feel my body feel much too heavy, and much too hot. I suddenly feel a sharp pain on my neck which makes me jump. My voice is louder now as I yelp from the new sensation. I try and wriggle away from it, but am held still, and I try to endure and wait for it to stop. I hear a strange, loud moan come from that general area.

Suddenly the pain in my body, especially my lower body gets extremely intense, and I scream in response. I don't know what was happening, I just know I feel horrible. The heat was too much for me and I can feel myself get dizzier. My insides begin to burn as it feels like lava was being poured inside of me. I hear a pained whimper escape my lips, and I hear a moan in return, loud and guttural around my neck, as the pain there gets worse, before finally stopping.

I can feel the world spin violently. Still trying to orient myself, I can feel the pressure of the arms restraining me lesson, and I try to move away from whatever was assaulting me, but my limbs are heavy on their own. I can only roll on my side before grabbing my head in an attempt to stop the disorientation.

What is happening? Why do I feel like this? Am I in the lake? Am I dead?

Gradually my senses begin to return as I lay there for a few moments, trying to gather my breath and lesson the spinning. I can hear breathing above me, but by the time my vision clears enough to look and see the source, I see nothing. I only see a dark, stoney ceiling.

For a few more minutes I stay still, waiting for my body to recover from whatever was happening, and I eventually get to a point where I can drag myself slightly upright and try to examine my environment. Finally my head was not spinning quite so violently and the heat of my body began to leave me as well as most of the pain I was feeling, being replaced by the familiar chill I am used to.

Wait. This room. I have been in this room before. This small, dark, stoney room. This is…

Fear rushes through me all at once. Pitch. I was here, and Pitch was here. He captured me. Shit.

I remember my encounter with him finally. Waking up in this room, my arm was shackled..

I lift my arm and see the familiar chains around it. That wasn't a dream then. But wasn't I just with Jamie? Was that a dream? Was he dead? No… he wasn't dead… He was older, he was going to college, and then there were strange clouds, and the lake… We got pulled down…

It took me a few minutes to figure out which memories were a dream and which were real. Finally I was able to realize that everyone was actually alive, but Jamie… he was pulled into the lake? Did he make it? I forced him out I think… with my staff.

My staff? Where is my staff?! I look around, and don't see it, before I remember that Pitch has it. Shit! Why did I not remember what happened before?

I shift and begin to attempt to stand, but pain aches through me when I do. I moan at the discomfort and look at my body to asses the damage.

I'm very confused when I look down to see my pants down to my ankles.