Chapter 2: The Power of Lies
Well here's chapter 2! I tried to fix some of the issues brought to my attention by Nagasha. Thanks for the help!
"No!" The looking-glass smashed to the ground, Amelia Crescent stood on the other side of the fallen mirror, looking furious at what she had seen. "He wasn't supposed to make it out alive! How can I fix this?" She paced around the dark room for what could be minutes or hours until she decided. "I'll just have to trick the idiot General himself." Amelia raised her hand in the air and started to change. Her corn-silk blond hair turned black and her sea green eyes into a warm brown color.
"Get ready General Pitchiner, you just pissed off the spirit of lies." She faded into a dark red mist and flew out of the room.
Jack watched the sleeping General with a concerned expression on his face. Was this really who Pitch used to be? Or was this a cruel trick, just to get back into the workshop so he could try to take them all out again? Before Jack could make up answers for himself, Kozmotis opened his eyes. "Are you alright?" jack launched right into asking him questions just to get his mental state.
"I am fine. But I do have a question of my own. What is this place?" Kozmotis chanced a look at the young boy's face and saw nothing but simple confusion.
"You really don't know this place?" Jack was shocked. This man couldn't be Pitch. There was something, not innocence, but something like it, that he saw in the General's eyes that disarmed him. "you're in Santoff Claussen. What's the last thing you remember?"
"you mean as me, or as that monster? I have two different versions of my last memory." Kozmotis relaxed, if only slightly. Jack shifted uncomfortably; so the man did remember his time as Pitch.
"Your last human memory." Kozmotis stiffened at what had to be a painful reminder for him.
Kozmotis looked at Jack, and seeing no form of interruption, began the memory. "I was keeping watch over the fearlings at a prison, the name escapes me at the moment, when I started to think about my daughter, Katarina. You could say that she was the reason that I was guarding the fearlings for as long as I did. The fearlings caught sight of it somehow and started to whisper, 'Daddy! I'm scared. It's cold and dark in here!' I knew it was a trap, but my body seemed to act as if it was separate from my mind. I took out the keys, unlocked the door keeping the fearlings in, and threw the door open, ready to save my dear daughter. The fearlings escaped, rushing past me. Some of them got the idea to make me one of them, but I guess I was too old to become a full Fearling so I was made into what you fought." Kozmotis's hand went to his chest, trying to find his locket. He paled. It wasn't there! "If I could, I would show you what my daughter looked like. I had her picture in a locket." He smiled regretfully at Jack.
"No, it's alright!"Jack smiled back. "I mean, you have been through a lot, I'll see if I can find that locket!" Jack wanted to see the man smile a real smile...wait, what? Why would he think that? He didn't want the man to be sad for some reason, and thinking about it made his chest tighten.
"You will?" Kozmotis was honestly not that surprised that Jack would do something like this, it was in his nature. Then came a knock at the door. Jack got up and got it.
The girl on the other side was flanked by North and Bunny."Is my father here? My name is Katarina Pitchiner. Can I see him?"
There was something about this girl who set Jack on edge. Kozmotis looked up from where he was laying and saw the girl and brightened. Jack's chest tightened just a fraction. "Katarina! I...come over here for a moment and let me see you." The girl ran up to Kozmotis and jumped into his arms. Jack looked on at the scene and wished that was him in Kozmotis's arms. Jack paled again and shook the thought from his mind.
Bunny cleared his throat. "Alright you two, visiting hours are over." Jack turned to look at Bunny, who leaned in and whispered in his ear. "I don't trust that girl. It just seems too good to be true." Jack nodded his head in agreement.
The girl walked away from Kozmotis and started to follow Bunny and North out of the room. "Don't even think about it, Snowball, he's dead!" She leaned in and whispered threateningly, making the hairs on the back of Jack's head raise.
"Can you stay for a while Jack? you seem like the most intelligent company I've had in some time." Jack got the words out of his head and walked over to where Kozmotis was. "So Jack, is there anything else you'd like to know?" Later that night, Jack had fallen asleep in the chair next to Kozmotis's bed, blissfully unaware of the green eyes watching from the darkness.
I'll get back to writing my one-shot over the weekend, so thanks! Hope you enjoyed!
