chapter word count: 326

noir heart: sixteen

Jack pauses just before he fully closes the door behind him, and wearing an expression of wary curiosity he flicks his eyes back and forth between Aster, who sports part-anticipation, part-anxiety on his lightly tanned features, and Captain Moors whose sharply-boned cheeks are taut with haughty irritation…yet the normally hard eyes tell a story of interest.

"You didn't know about this, did you?" Jack murmurs as he gently closes the door behind him with a click, and folds his arms defensively.

'Maleficent' slowly shakes her head, her gaze as unwavering as the victory rolls in her raven-black hair. "No, I did not."

Jack sticks a tongue into his cheek as he shoots a narrow-eyed look at his ex-partner, trying to suppress the smile that threatens to undermine his anger. "I don't know whether to punch you in the face for lying to me," he drawls lazily, "or be impressed that you actually defied the boss for once, Mr Rules and Regulations."

"Yeah well," Aster shrugs with a sigh that Jack knows is born of relief, "like I said to o-captain-my-captain, you're a bad influence on me. So," he pauses as his green eyes flick down to the notepad poking out of Jack's folded arms, "whatcha got?"

Jack hesitates briefly – he's still annoyed as hell that Aster probably bullshitted about needing his skills – but with a disinterested tch he eventually decides to put the increasingly curious Australian out of his misery, and tosses the notepad at him with a little more force than necessary.

There's not much on the small sheets anyway, just a few questions and answers that were scribbled and summarily crossed out, a couple of doodles and a small sketch of a fairy with an arrow through its head, but the most important words are underlined at the bottom – three of them, to be exact.

SHE DID IT

sara99: Hah, yeah. I can't wait to update "eighteen".
k j mcdaniel: Ouch. You're breaking OGaV!Pitch's heart.
durgess: Thank you so much! It's really fun to write these.
suresnowflake: I don't mean to! *fumbles for defibrillators.
stefalove: Maybe, maybe not.
fantasy oh yea: It's in the works. I got my inspiration and drive back. Still slow, but it's coming.
hornedgoddess: Indeed, the next few chapters are (hopefully) a game changer.
heartonfire: I'm curious to hear your hunch, though you can't PM me. Curses. I like your thinking though! Wonder if the next few updates will either solidify or discount your theories...
e-teens: :D that's awesome. Thank you so much. Hai to you both.
miki fubuki: yay, high praise! Thank you!