A/N : This one is short. Sorry, but I have testing and 3 essays. I wanted to post something though.

Chapter 22

The ceiling has sharp and angular formations protruding into the open air. Their weight must supported by the solid rock arches linking them to one another. The whole spectacle reminds me of some sort of abstract artwork. I pull my wings close to my body as I make my way over to Jack. If I'm not carefull, I'll cut them on the jags surrounding me. I brush past more obstacles of rock but finally make my way up to where Jack stands. The pool of water is below us. Jack turns to me and half of his face is illuminated by the glowing staff. He looks surprisingly scary.

"What? Something wrong with my face?"

"No. You just look... "

"Scary?"

I nod.

He smiles and makes a scary face at me before taking a step out into the open. He floats over the pool, and explains what I'll be practicing.

"I'm going to help you fight in the dark. That's why we're here. When this staff goes out-"

He gestures to it with his other hand, reminding me of a teacher.

"- it'll be completely dark."

In the back of my mind, Pitch's golden eyes burn.

"Ok..."

The staff's light fades away, like a sped up moonset. Blackness creeps into the cave, and the pool of water ceases to sparkle, its depths replaced by inky black oil. And then, fear. It starts out as a pinprick. Nothing serious. But the smallest pinprick can end your life. Fear spreads through me, a poison that restricts complex thoughts, and I cease to think rationally. My train of thought runs off the rails and becomes less logical by the second.

I'm in a cave.

A dark cave.

A pitch black cave.

A cave similar to the one where I first encountered Pitch.

Just like the one.

Same noises.

Same smell.

Same black.

Same fear.

This is the cave.

Pitch is here.

He found me.

I catch myself. There's no way that thought is possible. Pitch has no idea where I am, and even if he did know, Jack is here. Jack's beat him before, and he'll do it again.

Then why didn't he when you needed him most?

Becasue I ran away from him. It was my choice.

There is a faint drip-drop of water. I can hear the hum of my blood running in my neck. The cave sounds hollow, but alive. The walls echo the water dripping off of their hard surfaces, and I'm reminded of the stone hard sand-knife that killed me. Everything here brings me back to that day. The humming persists in my ears, growing louder. I'm losing focus, yet again. Darkness is very disorienting.

"Jack...?"

My voice echos around the cave. I hear the tinge of panic staining it as it bounces away. I certainly don't want to sound afraid. Not after I supposedly "conquered" my fears.

"Yes? I'm right here."

"Where...?"

The cave jumbles our voices together, and we wait for them to fade out before speaking again.

"Right here."

I hear his feet touch the stone space in front of me. They scartch and scuffle soflty as he takes a few steps forward. I smell a little bit of pine in the air as he bumps into me. The staff spreads its comforting light over us, and I see that we're both on the ledge above the water.

"I'm sorry, Jack. I just..."

He searches my face, trying to pick up the words I dropped. I find better ones, though.

"How do you focus? The darkness is... disorientating."

"Well... I just... isolate myself."

"Like, think of your happy place?"

He smiles a bit.

"No, not really. I do the opposite. I leave everything else behind, and absorb what I'm trying to focus on. I don't try to escape it."

"Alright. I'll try that."

I clear my throat, and wait for Jack to darken the cave. The light recedes back into the staff, and darkness spreads itself over the gray walls, turning them charcoal, then obsidian. The pool below me is once again inky and without luster. It might as well be a pool of flat-black paint.

"Ok, _."

Jack's voice travels from one point across from me, but ends up nearly everywhere else.

"I want you to focus. You're going to find me. It'll be like Marco Polo. Except I'm not going to move from my spot. And we won't talk to eachother."

"Ya. Just like Marco Polo."

"Hey, I needed something to compare it to."

"Ever heard of hide 'n seek?"

"Shut up."

We laugh at eachother, and I'm grateful for the joking tone in the cave's eerie air. At least for this moment. Then it fades, and I'm left with the ringing of silence in my ears. He's already hiding.

I close my eyes, squeezing them to make sure they're shut since I can't detect a difference in the darkness.

I let myself forget about Pitch for now. I think only of the cave. Its walls around me, the spiked roof and floor near me, the pool beneath me, and the ledge supporting me. I decide to focus on one thing in particular. The steady drip of water nearby. It serves as a pendulum, and I gradually slow my thoughts. I focus harder, and hear the minuscule echo of the water dripping onto the floor.

DRIP.

drip.

DRIP.

drip.

The air holds every noise in the cave. There's no way that Jack can be completely silent, right? He has to be making some sort of noise, no matter how small. Then I think back to Bunny and his meadow. How Jack kept finding me in the grass. My heartbeat gave me away. Maybe I could hone in on his.

I hold my breath, and suspect that he is doing the same.

I listen to my own rhythmic thumping, and tune my ears to that sound. Then, like a skilled musician, I pick out every noise in the cave's humid air. I immediately rule out my own heartbeat. The dripping water is the second obvious choice. I block it out, straining my ears to pick up on anything else. There is a faint whisper in the far distance. It must be the air moving through the cave. Then I hear something I can finally use. A ghost of a sound echos in both of my ears. I turn my head towards the louder side and hear my own hair rub against itself. It's surprisingly loud, and I focus on the sound again. I pick it up as it echos into my left ear. I tilt my head towards the promising sound, and smile when it grows stronger. I can feel the pressure against my eardrum with each additional pulse of the echo. I decide to start moving towards it, and spread my wings. I ignore my feathers quietly ruffling and unfurling. They sound like paper and dry leaves being crushed in my ears compared to the heartbeat. I carefully glide in a small circle, tuning my ears and listening intently for the beat to grow louder. I feel like an oversized bat. After circling a couple of times, I notice that a particular spot is more potent than the others. I fly once more around, and stop when I'm at the point. Hovering in place, I gingerly reach my hand out into the darkness.

What if I've found the wrong heartbeat?

I push the thought away, and my hand lightly presses against cold, soft fabric. I recognize it, and relief washes over me.

Blue light glows from Jack's staff, revealing his face. I realize that my hand rests on his chest, right over his heart. I pull it away back to my side where it belongs. He smiles at me before guiding me back to the ledge.

"Spill. How'd you find me?"

"I took your advice."

"You focused? That's obvious. I mean, how did you actually find me. What did you hear that tipped you off? I was holding my breath!"

"Ya, I figured. I remembered the time Bunny and you were trying to find me in the field. You said you heard my heartbeat. So I heard yours."

He raises his eyebrows at my explanation.

"Wow. Smart. And you have some great ears to do that. Maybe even make the Easter Kangeroo jealous."

I smirk in the comforting blue light.

"Good job."

"Thanks."

"But you know Pitch doesn't have a heartbeat."

"Ya. Figures."

"Good thing is, you probably won't have to find him. He always makes an appearance. He can't stand being unseen for too long. He needs the attention, like a gothic drama queen. It's what... You know."

"Gives him power."

"Ya. Which you can use to your advantage. As soon as he comes out of the shadows because you're not afraid, you can fight."

I nod, and feel the urge to start the real training. Jack sees the eager look I give him, and smiles.

"Let's start the fighting."

"Finally."