Chapter 12

Jack sat against the wall of his cell, his hands shackled above his head with Pitch's black sand. His knees were folded under him, and his eyes were closed with the realization of the desperation of the situation. The winter spirit was burning up from Ember's gift in the corner- a constant fire. But it wasn't like he could complain or joke about it since the Nightmare King had been kind enough to gag him with more of that sand.

The Guardian knew he'd be tasting grit for weeks when he got out of here… actually, it was more of an if at this point. He didn't even know what they wanted besides to divide and conquer the rest of his team, his family. For the first hour of captivity, he had shouted and cursed the two of them, and that was some of the sand shifted from the wall to cover his mouth. That hadn't stopped him to continue to yell even with the muffle; however, after another hour, Jack became quiet and just sat.

The winter spirit hadn't seen either Ember or Pitch since he had been thrown in here. The fire was his only source of light which he was grateful that he could see, but the temperature was far above what he would consider comfortable. He had beads of sweat dripping down his brow, and each breath he took was shaky at best.

Jack wasn't afraid; he had faced Pitch before, and the thought of the Nightmare king plotting his demise out there didn't terrify Jack as it should. The unknown factor of Ember was what was keeping him on his toes, figuratively of course. Ever since they had met, it was a snowball of emotions. It still didn't seem even plausible that she had let Pitch purposely beat on her, so that she could get into the Pole. That didn't seem like a plan… Yet, that's exactly what had happened. Now Jack was suffering for it as were the rest of the Guardians. He didn't want to lose hope, but there wasn't a whole lot left to hope for.

Pitch and Ember stood outside Jack's door; she was leaning casually against the door, and the Nightmare king was appraising the fiery spirit. He gave her a smile showing off a row of his razor teeth, and she just gave him a nod in return.

"I take it you want me to go to the Warren while the Guardians scramble to figure out what happened to Jackie boy?" Ember asked, running her palms up and down on the door. She could feel the heat through the door, and it felt good under her hands.

"You have the Guardians running scared," Pitch practically purred to her. She could tell the king of fear was quite impressed with her performance thus far. He had an aura of fear rolling off of him from all the kids now under his spell. The weakened Guardians stood no chance in a direct confrontation, but Pitch didn't want to just beat Manny's chosen, he wanted them destroyed in every way possible. Pitch wanted children to not just believe in the fear, but he wanted to be sure no child would ever speak of the Guardians again. "I want to keep it that way."

"So the Warren?" Ember repeated unsure if he was even listening to her. She frowned when he didn't answer again, so she gave the king a small shove. "Did you or did you not want me to go to the Warren?"

"I want no Warren to be left," Pitch growled glaring down at the girl. He was trying to savor this moment, and she was being disrespectful to the king of fear. "Burn it to the ground."

"That I can do," she said with a smile before glancing at the door she was leaning on. Ember was eager to pay the spirit a visit and finally get the revenge she deserved. The saying was that revenge was a dish best served cold, and it seemed to be quite true… however, she really wanted to start heating up that dish very soon.

"I'll keep Jack occupied," he said grasping her chin with his right hand. He forced her to look at him and ignore the toy that was behind the door. "I'm the king of fear after all. I know what buttons to push while you're off," he waved his other hand dramatically, "setting things on fire."

"Eloquent," she replied before nodding and pushing past Pitch. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"Few hours?" he asked shooting a look over his shoulder at her.

"Well to do a job right, you have to do it thoroughly," Ember grinned before walking from the lair.

Composing himself, Pitch stepped into Jack's cell. The winter spirit glared up defiantly at him, and it just thrilled the king. He didn't like for his plaything to just break after a few hours; it was more fun to savor it, to drag out the fear.

Pitch knelt in front of Jack and gave him a small smile. "The Guardians are going to lose Jack," he said, his tone neutral. "The workshop is ashes, memories are charred, and now the Warren will be a smoldering pile of nothing."

Jack strained against his restraints and cursed Pitch through his gag. His bright blue eyes stared rebelliously at the Nightmare king. He just couldn't fathom the Guardians losing; it wasn't possible to the young spirit. He believed whole heartedly that they would all find a way back from this and win… which meant he wasn't going to show weakness in front of Pitch.

"Now doesn't that sound like fun," Pitch continued running the back of his hand down the young spirit's cheek. Finally stepping away, the Nightmare king headed for the door. "I was wrong Jack… Cold and dark don't go together as well as dark and fire does."

Opening the door to the cell, Pitch stepped out but not before saying one more thing. "I still know your darkest fear… Enjoy the cell in silence and darkness because no one is going to come for you. You're all alone and the Guardians aren't going to come for someone like you." With that, black sand from the wall molded away to cover Jack's eyes and his ears. The world was cast into shadows and stillness.

The winter spirit started to scream against the gag again, but he couldn't even really hear himself. There was nothing he could see or hear, and Jack shuddered against his restraints. He had never been claustrophobic before, but this reminded him so much of when he first awoke after falling into the lake. The only thing missing was the cold air he was craving, but instead, that fire was probably still going in the corner if the heat in the room was any indication. He couldn't help it; he whimpered at the loss of all his senses. Too bad that was only the beginning for the spirit as his mind was soon assaulted by nightmares as his body was forced to sleep.

…

It hadn't taken long for Ember to reach the Warren, and she was glad to be alone to her thoughts for a moment. She hadn't had much chance the last few days. The Guardians gave her a headache, and she didn't entirely trust Pitch. She knew he was trying to use her, but as long as she got what she wanted, Ember didn't really care.

Currently, she was sitting on top of one of those strange egg statues. She found it oddly creepy to look at, and she was going to take great pleasure in burning it to a crisp. Glancing over the entirety of the Warren, even she had to admit it was a beautiful green. She almost felt bad for having to destroy it, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with any of the Nightmare king's mood swings if she didn't do her job.

Floating a few feet in the air, she shrugged her bow from her shoulder and pulled back a deep red arrow. She'd prefer to use blue arrows, the hottest fire, but in truth, she had never been able to get her body to go that hot. She had gotten close a few occasions, but she could just never get over that hump or whatever was blocking her from the full use of her powers.

"I wonder if I can make a few omelets," she said noticing a few eggs still prancing around even though it was the middle of August. She aimed for a bush in the Warren that was sure to burn bright and quick… but she found herself hesitating. In the back of her mind, she thought of what this place would have meant to her sister. The workshop had been an accident (for the most part), and she hadn't destroyed as much of the palace as she could have… Could she truly turn a place like this untouched and perfect into nothing more than a pile of ash?

Releasing the arrow, it struck true at the base of the bush which caught how she thought. Turning in the air, Ember continued to fire off arrows at anything that seemed like it could burn well. A few of the small eggs took off, and she took each of them out akin to target practice.

With the Guardians still in Antarctica, Ember knew she could take her time. She slowly floated across the entirety of the Warren setting everything on fire eventually. She turned the once lush Warren into a black, smoldering pile of nothing. All the trees that once existed were now charred beyond resemblance, the grass was a disgusting shade of brown, and any water had dried up from the heat of it all. When she finished, the Warren looked unrecognizable, and only then, did she lower her bow. Her sister would have loved this place…

With that thought, she flew back to Pitch not wanting to wait around and see what Bunny would say and try to do to her for this. She could only imagine his reaction, and at that thought, she smiled. One more Guardian down. All she had left to do was break Jack Frost, and in her mind, that would be the end of the Man in the Moon's precious soldiers.

…

Jack found himself trembling as he came out of the newest nightmare. He had reached a point where he couldn't tell the difference in reality or the dream state. All his nightmares started with him in this cell, so he closed his eyes behind the blindfold and tried to think if he was awake or if this was just the start of another terror.

The young Guardian didn't get much chance to calm his heart or his head before he felt pressure on his now stretched out legs. Someone was sitting on him; he muffled his disagreements through the gag, but whoever it was, Pitch or Ember, they paid him no mind. He felt a hand in his hair, and he couldn't help but tense up. In his mind, it didn't matter which one it was; both the fire spirit and Nightmare king were bad.

Whoever it was, they leaned in; he could feel their breath on his cheek. Panic was starting to set in; without his senses, this was five times worse than it could have been. Jack would have been content just to know who was sitting on him; it would have given him a better idea on how to act. He felt the sand fall away from his ears, and he tried not to show his excitement at being able to at least hear again.

Jack hissed as his head was forced back against the wall of the cell, but whoever was with him still didn't speak. However, he could finally tell who it was based on the amount of heat being thrust in his way. He didn't think it was possible to sweat as much as he was now; droplets were scattered across his entire body, and he was sure his sweater was soaking in some places.

He muffled his question through the gag- what she wanted, why, but of course, it just came out as nothing. With this gag on, he couldn't even ask the questions that had been bothering him since she set the entire workshop on fire. He just wanted to know why. He bucked against the weight on him, but he heard her chuckle before noticing he was feeling drops fall down on his neck. He had just thought he was sweating more, but now he wasn't so sure. Was she crying?

"My sister would have loved the warren," she said suddenly, he could hear her voice slightly choked. "I almost felt bad turning it into nothing." Jack screamed against the gag; were the Guardians hurt? Did she kill them? The questions were piling up in his head. "Oh please stop making those noises. You sound like a dying animal. It's bothersome."

When he went to continue yelling at her through the gag, he felt her other hand not in his hair go around his throat. The burning started almost immediately after, and he started to scream into the gag. "Are you going to shut up now?" she hissed into his ear as she tightened her grip around his throat.

Tears streaming down his face, Jack forced his head to nod… anything to get the pain to stop. Ember slowly released her grip from his neck, but she didn't the fire away completely. Hand still blazing, she trailed a finger down his neck, and she felt him tremble under her. It crossed her mind how easily she could destroy the guardian of fun right now. It would be over… she just wondered if the pain and anger would leave with his death. But… but, she contained herself and finally drew away. There were things worse than death; she more than anyone knew this.

"Oh don't cry," she whispered brushing his tears away with her fingers. He hissed at the contact, more heat being pushed into his body. He hoped she was feeling his power in turn, but he doubted it. With the heat all around him and no staff, he wasn't exactly formidable at the moment. He let his head droop at the thought, so that his chin rested on his chest.

The restraints fell from his eyes and his mouth finally. He took a deep shuddering breath before forcing himself to look Ember in her eyes. The green stared back and he realized he had never seen her eye color until now. It was a stark contradiction to her dark red hair and the scar on her face.

Gulping down, he asked, "Why? Why all of this?" He coughed from just the exertion of talking; her choking had done more than he thought.

"I told you Jack," she said like she was speaking to a child, smiling at him. "To make you suffer. I've made sure the Guardians can never come for you."

"Why… why don't you just kill me?" he panted out, not wanting to ask this question but this room was torture.

She licked her lips and looked him right in the eyes. "Because Jack, that would be too quick. You're immortal which means you can suffer for eternity for what you've done." The last statement came out more as a hiss. "You're going to sit here in the dark, no sight, no sound, no one to keep you company. Your worst nightmare of being abandoned and left alone come true." He found himself shaking at her words; Jack couldn't fathom being left in this cell for another hour let alone all of his immortal life.

He found his body shaking at the notion, and tears threatened to fall from the emotional impact of her words. The worst part of all of this was that he believed her; he could see himself sitting in this room waiting for a rescue that would never come… He shook his head, "I just don't understand…" He forced himself. "What did I do to you?" he asked gaining his voice and confidence back.

Ember released his hair and leaned back, so that she was sitting on his knees. She was smiling cruelly at him. Suddenly, Jack wasn't even sure he wanted to know. He stared hard at her trying to see if he remembered from all the kids he had been around the past few years, but she wasn't there.

She was reaching up for one of his hands which came free from the sand with no effort on her part. She seized his hand before he got any wild ideas. Moving so that she was on her knees now and not touching the winter spirit anyway, she took his hand and placed it on the burn on her stomach. She made sure his fingers touched it. Even if the cold of his touch made her uncomfortable, she wanted him to feel every inch. She took his hand from her abdomen and had him touch the burn lightly on her leg before finally placing his hand on her cheek. He could feel every warp of the burn, every place where the skin had to re-knit itself after whatever fire had caused this.

"I don't…" he started as she placed her hand over his on her cheek. Fire raced through his arm, and she kept her icy stare on him even when there was numbing cold running through her face now.

"Because Jack," she whispered cocking her head and letting him touch her burn as he willed as her hand dropped away. "All of this," she said referring to her face and body, "is your fault." Jack's head snapped up to meet her gaze. "My death, my burns… my sister's death is your fault."

Chapter 13: Jack gets to see the hell Ember lived before becoming the monster she is.

OOC: Sorry for the lateness of the chapter. I am not 100% today, and I wanted to make this last scene perfect. I wanted everyone to see it in their head- the anger, the confusion, the pain. There is Jack whump in the next chapter along with a lot of angst. Ember didn't become this because of sunshine and daises after all.