Jack let out a gasp when he realized the Guardians were just on the other side of the dome. He wished they'd leave the two of them alone for once as he managed to make himself decent. Only then did the sand dome around them come down and Shadow smirked at the group as they glared at her. She lightly caressed Jack's cheek with one hand before dissolving into sand and leaving; Jack leaned into the touch even as she left. Tooth immediately tackled Jack, almost sending the two of them sprawling in the snow.
"JACK! DID SHE HURT YOU? OH MY GOSH WHY ARE YOUR WRISTS BLEEDING?! DID SHE RAPE YOU?!" Beyond irritated at the fairy he slammed his staff against the ground, sending an icy blast of wind out that nearly bowled her over. He'd had enough of this nonsense from them.
"I'm fine, she would never harm me! I'm bleeding because I scratched them on a branch and she would never do that!" He growled. Bunny hopped over to him, eyes narrowed.
"I think you need to get your priorities straight mate. Especially that Jakul of yours." Jack growled.
"Maybe you should but out of my life!" The others moved to grab Jack before he could lunge at the Pooka, wanting to kill the Pooka then and there. They knocked his staff from his gip so he couldn't use it against any of them. After a brief struggled Sandy had to knock Jack out before they could get him to the sleigh to take him back to the pole. Sandy opted to follow Shadow's trail than to follow the others back to North's workshop. He easily picks up the trail of sand and when he finds her it's Mysterie who's in control. He crosses his arms when he sees her lounging on one of the park's benches. Letters floating above his head instead of the usual symbols:
Did you rape Jack?
Mysterie gaped at the little Guardian in horror before her jaw snapped shut and she glared at him.
"I might not always be in control but I would never..." She hissed.
"I thought you were the smart one. Why would I have even a need to force from him what he freely offers?!" Sandy nodded a little at that and relaxed:
My apologies... I just wanted to make sure. You should come with me, back to the pole and prove this to the other Guardians.
She snorted.
"Hell no. They're only slightly better than the spirits who would see me dead for what happened to Jamie!" She didn't really blame them for that, after all, they were close to the boy, which was why he'd been Shadow's target.
Jack woke up hours later in his room at the workshop. This time, however, he noticed that there was a barrier to keep him in the room and bars on the window to keep him from escaping that route.
"No, not again... I can't... I don't want to be alone. I can't be without her..." Darkness stirred within him that the turbulent thoughts of being locked away from his love. Mysterie jolted as she could sense the darkness rising and she growled.
"P-please... I don't want to be alone. You don't know what it's like to be alone where no one loves or understands you." Jack cried, whimpering as he buried his face into his arms as he sat on the bed. Jakul could feel his pain and he fed on it, but at the same time felt guilty.
"Those fools..." She left Sandy wondering what she meant as she took off for the North Pole. It took her a couple of hours to reach the place, but once she was there she dissolved into sand to slip past the bars on the window and into the room, by passing the defenses meant to keep Jack in. She reformed quickly, as fast as possible as she wanted to prevent what she knew would happen if she didn't do something. Sandy had watched her go and decided, as he followed, that he wouldn't interfere with whatever she meant to do this time nor would he alert the others. He had a bad feeling about all this; whatever Jack's relationship with her was, she seemed to be the only thing that was keeping him in check now.
"Ah, come on kid, it's gonna be okay. Just, you know... buck up or let me take control for a little while so you won't feel alone." Jack slowly looked up, tears frozen to his face, he almost thought of saying yes until he saw Mysterie materialize, but he dismissed what he saw, thinking only it to be a trick of his mind. She moved over to him, murmuring quietly.
"We have to keep quiet. I don't think Sandy will rat me out but the others..." She settled on the bed and wrapped her arms around him, sighing softly; it had only been a couple of hours since she had last seen him but she had missed him terribly. Jack simply cries harder from the contact, unsure if it was North's magic or simply his imagination that had put her there.
"Please make it stop, I don't wanna be a monster anymore... I'm tired of being a monster to everyone." He clung to her like a lifeline, as if she'd disappear if he let her go for even a moment. Sandy appeared in the room, giving Mysterie a look of sympathy and a slight smile towards her to show that he had finally accepted she meant no harm before he left to return to his own duties as a Guardian. Mysterie held him close, her voice quiet.
"Shhhh, you're not a monster love. I promise." She gently ran one hand along his back to comfort, he clinched her tighter as he felt himself falling into an abyss of fear. He felt as if he was choking in black water that he couldn't surface from; his eyes shifted to black pools as he was dragged under by the darkness again. Tears still slipped from his eyes despite that Jack was no longer in control.
"I thought if I took control for a little while he wouldn't feel as much pain." Mysterie shook her head sadly as she met his eyes.
"The Darkness doesn't work that way."
"Well, at least he doesn't feel as much." Jakul replied, knowing that she was right even as he retreated in Jack's mind as Jack gasped for air, having felt like he'd been swallowing black sludge for the past five minutes. He reached out and touched her face to see if she was real or not, as if doubting what he saw.
"M-mysterie?" He gasped again for air before hugging her close and sobbing against the soft gray tone shirt.
"W-what's wrong w-w-with me?" She grimaced at the question he stuttered out.
"Nothing love, but you are still so pure that the invasion of darkness from your past exacts a toll..."
"I-I don't wanna be like t-this anymore! It h-hurts!" Jack ducked his head, pressing his face into the black skirt; not wanting to have the luxury of looking at her beauty.
You don't deserve it. The darkness whispered in his head, but this time it isn't Jakul. I can't live like this... all I'm doing is hurting her. Jack thinks to himself as he clings to her. But if I end it... maybe she'll only hurt for a little bit and get over me. He mulled this over, unaware that Shadow had heard the thought through the connection. Shadow snorted at Jack.
"Yeah... think THAT if you think it will make you feel better... But consider this frostbite, she doesn't have believers and every blooming spirit ever made to this date hates her guts... you wanna die, fine, but it'd be a kindness to kill her first." She scoffed a little, as if unable to believe she'd just said as much. Mysterie tries to ignore her darker half as she threads her fingers through Jack's hair, murmuring soft reassurances; wishing that there was something she could do.. but knowing that there wasn't without scarring Jack permanently and she couldn't bring herself to do that; she'd already done far too much damage as it was.
Jack sighed, still wanting to die, but realizing that he couldn't do it. After a moment he realized something else.
"M-mysterie... did y-y-you hear what Shadow said?" He felt tears spring to his eyes but he dashed them away before they could fall.
"I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS! I'M ONLY HURTING THE PEOPLE I LOVE, ESPECIALLY YOU!" He cringed at his own outburst and pulled away from her. Mysterie looked at him, he didn't meet her gaze; she spoke quietly.
"I did... but she spoke true. Much as she would not care... she needs me as much as Jakul needs you. She is a part of me and shares my thoughts, my desires... I don't want to be without you... I... I couldn't survive if you were gone. What reason would I have to exist? Yes, it does hurt me to see you in pain, but... love is a double edged sword... it always has been."
"I just want it to go away." Jack gasps as the darkness surges through him, trying to break him.
"S-STOP IT." Jack groaned, holding his stomach as his eyes slowly turn darker as more time passes; this time they aren't going back to the normal ice blue.
"Please... Mysterie... kill me, it will end our misery if you do... p-please."
"Get the Guardians now. I can see what he's thinking of doing and it's not pretty, or at least force him to sleep. He's going to stab himself multiple times if you don't and I don't feel like being stabbed." Jakul says, a whimper in his tone; which is really out of character for him.
"Can't say I blame you Jakul." She murmurs and gently grasps Jack's head, pressing her forehead to his; gold sand mingles with silver and forces Jack to sleep. He fought the sand's influence for a little while.
"N-no... I can't... p-please just end the suffering..." Jack fell limp in her arms. She held him close, nuzzling against him as she whispered quietly.
"I can't... I can't kill..." As she murmured those words Sandy floated into the room from the window, by passing the bars as she had done before. He looked at the two, alarms showing in the sand above him and he gave her a look that seemed to ask several things at once 'what's wrong? what happened to jack? did he attack again?' His eyes fell on the sleeping Jack, worry in his golden eyes. The other Guardians could be heard talking as they came up the stairs to see how Jack was fairing. Sandy suddenly turned to Mysterie:
Quickly! Hide!
Mysterie shook her head sadly, even though she knew the little Guardian meant well.
"What good would hiding do? I can't run from them forever... and with Jack as he is... if..." She struggled to continue.
"If he's gone... what would be the point?" A single tear slid down her cheek as she held the winter spirit close, whispering, almost not loud enough to be heard as the door swung open.
"He is my life... if anything happens to him... I wouldn't be able to live." The group stares at the scene before them in shock, North is the first to recover and he glares at Sandy for letting Mysterie near their comrade even as Jack whimpers in pain in his forced sleep.
"Good news. I've found something that bring Jack back to normal. Well as Mysterie, but have to know if you are willing to try." His gaze shifted from Jack to her. She nodded, her eyes sadly pleading when she met his.
"I fear that if we don't try then things will be worse... North... I am not reason enough for him to live anymore..." North sighed.
"Come then Mysterie. Come with me, we might need help gathering items for it to work. Will be snap since he is weakened. Items needed are tear from boogeyman, phoenix feather, hair of athena, pure holy water, loved ones." He said as she lay Jack gently on the bed again, tucking him in before turning back to the group, the others strangely silent.
"I know lot to get, but is old spell for purifying dark." He held out a book to her and Mysterie took it in her hands, there was a picture of a boy that seemed to have the dark shadows being pulled out of him as women hugged him, candles near the boy were lit with a goblet nearby that seemed to contain the other ingredients needed while the women seemed to represent loved ones.
"Strange thing, not my style of spell, but is that or let him suffer." She thought a moment over the spell, but nodded. There wasn't an option.
"I can help with some of that... the first will be easy, but the others..." She shook her head a little.
"I do not know how I could obtain the rest with the spirits out there more than willing to do more than just tan my hide." The Guardian of Wonder nodded a little.
"First two easy, we get tear from Pitch and phoenix is mailer. He brings mail from children and wouldn't mind giving up feather or two. Athena not so much, best prepare for battle. Can be nasty when comes to her hair. Bunny knows where to find holy water and you are loved one, besides Jamie and us." The Guardians and Mysterie split up into teams to fetch the items that would be needed. North set off in the sleigh to fetch athena's hair, Sandy and Tooth waited for the phoenix to show up to collect the feather while Bunny and Mysterie set off to collect the water. Not long after they had left, the phoenix showed up.
" 'ello Tooth, Sandy. Nice seein' ya here." Sandy began instantly telling the bird what it was they needed before it could fly off again after having set down a sack of letters. It nodded and plucked three feathers from its body and handed them to Sandy.
"Hope Jack gets better. See ya... oh! For I forget, this came for Jack from a Jamie." The bird handed over the envelope.
"I'm sure he'll be happy it came in." Tooth said with a smile and the bird nodded before departing.