chapter word count: 573 (tut tut)

noir heart: one hundred and nine

"White Fairy was Jack's nemesis." Nicholas drained the rest of his hot chocolate, and placed the empty tankard on the cushion at his side. "He alone frustrated, scared, enraged and damaged Jack more than others, even Graveyard House."

"What did he do?" Elsa asked, taking a quick sip. The stenographer in her mind waited patiently by the metaphorical machine, committing every word, pause and syllable.

"Is not what he did, but who he did it to. Once a month, a child would go missing. Week later, family of missing child receive toy white fairy in mail. It was signature, like a calling card. Child could be travelling home from school one moment, vanish next. No trace. No witnesses. No evidence. White Fairy was careful, methodical, patient, and extremely intelligent - in many ways, Jack's antithesis. His dark to Jack's light, if you will."

"How did he catch him?"

"Technically, he didn't. You see, once Jack was brought onto case, he started to understand. White Fairy never left ransom note or phone call, only taunted. Only communication from Fairy was to parents, and that was where Jack worked out reason for attacks - their parents. Fairy was punishing them. See, he could kill child and dump body, but for Fairy it not enough. He wanted parents to live every day with hope, hope that he could take away in second if he wanted to, and to live with dread of finding body. He wanted parents to live in turmoil, never knowing for certain if their child was alive, always waiting for that phone call. He wanted parents to suffer."

Elsa knows she should feel pity for the parents, but empathising with people is next to impossible. Especially since her parents knew exactly where she was: locked away so she couldn't kill. They said it was for the safety of everyone else, but Elsa knew. She knew it was for the safety of the one person she would never let any harm come to. Attempting to distract herself, she said, "I remember hearing about the entire city being on alert, how the schools increased safety measures to protect their children."

Nicholas nodded sagely. "Da. And yet, children still disappeared." He made a poof sound, and the gesture of something vanishing with his huge hands. Elsa looked down in thought.

"How did it affect Jack?"

The host scoffed bitterly. "Badly. Jack barely ate, barely slept. What he did not finish at work, he took home. He was so committed to catching Fairy, despite him being one step ahead, that he forgot how to live. His wife Rapunzel divorced him, he closed himself off from friends. I told him many times to stop, take step back. Take break. His response was always same: 'I'll stop when the bastard is either in cuffs, or in the ground'."

Frowning, Elsa asks, "Why, then, with the increased safety measures, were children still disappearing?"

The left side of Nicholas' bushy mustache curls up in a half smile, but his eyes radiate a bitter knowing. The kind of look when you think you're about to blow someone's mind. "I will answer question with question. In a society where children are discouraged from accompanying strangers, who is it that we as a people are conditioned to obey and trust?"

Elsa's face relaxed in comprehension. She snorted gently. "Of course. The White Fairy was a police officer."

that twist was probably obvious. Or not. I have no idea. What time is it? Turtles. THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH!

special thanks to: whimsical acumen, doomstone, oninoko, jpbake, stefalove, last future of embryo, hugs and puppies all around, hornedgoddess, guest, guest and deadbreath for the reviews!