I CAN'T REALLY REMEMBER HOW THIS PART WENT, SO THERE WILL BE MISTAKES!

In one bit of this chapter, Pitch is quite OOC. Just giving you a heads up.

Jack, while holding Jamie, floated down from the window to where I was sitting, humming quietly. When they landed, Jack offered a hand to help me up, which I accepted.

"Hey Claire, this is Jamie Bennett." Jack introduced me.

"I know"

"How do you know who I am?" Jamie asked, he looked both scared and curious.

Shit. Think Claire. THINK DAMMIT!

"I'm….psychic."

Nice.

"I didn't know that! What am I thinking about right now?" Jack spoke excitedly

'Snow" the expression on his face told me I was right.

Of course I'm right, what else would he think about?

"Let's go and get the other children. Claire, can you fly now?"

"Not sure, I'll try"

I hovered a few feet above the ground and the sharp pain from before had dulled down into a slight ache throughout my whole body. I flew a bit higher, and the pain increased.

"Yeah" I lied, as I started to float back down to the ground, but my flying abilities cut out and I fell, only to be caught by Jack. He didn't let go, instead he kept his arms around my waist and knees.

"Don't lie to me, Claire. It still hurts, doesn't it?" His face was a mix of anger and concern.

I wriggled myself out of his arms and started to walk away, my bare feet sinking into the freezing snow.

Fuck this, why does he have to worry about me so much?

"So, are we going to get the other kids or what?" I said over my shoulder, while I walked away. Behind my back, Jamie looked at Jack curiously, wondering what just happened, Jack responded by shrugging.

We went to the other houses, and after a while, we finally reached the last one. Jack was the one who got the children, while I sat outside, thinking of what Manny said to me.

I can't go home. I'll never see Eliza again. I'll never see my parents again. Why did I have to make that damn wish. Why?

I brought my knees up to my chest, and started to cry. All the pain and sorrow that I have felt since coming here hit me all at once. Tears cascaded down my face and soaked into my dress. While I was crying, I didn't hear Jack float back down to me, and I suddenly felt a cold arm around my shoulders.

"Claire! What's wrong?"

Should I tell him?...no, he wouldn't understand and besides, it's my problem, not his.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just that it still hurts a bit, I was strangled half to death after all, and chucked into an ice pit."

He looked at me, as if he could tell I was lying, but he didn't say anything else, just hugged me tighter. He leaned his head near my ear, and whispered

"I may not know much about you Claire, but I do know enough to be sure that you wouldn't cry about something like that. What is the real reason that you're crying? Please tell me"

I shook my head, "Don't worry about me Jack, let's just focus on returning to the others."

He gripped my arm and gave me a determined look, "Tell me what's wrong." He almost growled the words. To which I responded by prying his hand off and walking away.

"There is nothing wrong" I said evenly, with a blank expression on my face.

"Yes there is." He spat out each word.

"Just drop it, ok?!" I snarled.

Jack finally backed off, with a slightly hurt expression, and I almost immediately felt guilty.

"I'm sorry for snapping. It's just that I don't need you worrying about me, or anyone for that matter. I. Am. Fine." I sighed, walking over and hugging him, which he returned rather awkwardly.

"Let's go and-"

I was cut off by North's sleigh crash landing nearby. North and Tooth both heaved themselves out of the sleigh. Their eyes widened when they saw me.

"Claire! You're ok! Did Pitch hurt you at all?"

"Apart from keeping me in a cage, strangling me half to death then throwing me into a damn hole, no."

Jamie turned to Jack and asked him, "Is that why she has bruises on her neck?"

That resulted in two reactions from North and Tooth. The first was happy surprise that Jack finally had a believer. The second was anger,

"HE LEFT BRUISES?!" North yelled, his face constricted with pure anger. Then I heard some words that I never expected to hear spill from Tooth's mouth,

"That damn bastard, he will pay for what he did to you." She clenched her fists.

Jack noticed that a certain oversized rabbit was missing.

"Where's the rabbit?" Jack asked.

Then, a tiny and highly adorable bunny climbed out of the sleigh too. Despite the slight pain I was in, I ran over and scooped the little bunny into my arms and hugged it.

"ERMAGEHERED! YOU ARE FREAKING ADORABLE!"

"Hey! I am many things, adorable is not one of them." He replied "Now, put me down."

When I put him down, he started getting angry at Jack, after Jamie explained what happened, Bunny smiled and became even cuter. So I hugged him again. After I put him down, Jack spoke,

"We need to prepare ourselves, Pitch is on his way here."

All of us rode in the sleigh until we got to the main street of Burgess. After waiting there for a few minutes, we saw the man we were waiting for, Pitch. He was approaching at high speed, riding one of his Fearlings, once he got close enough to clearly see all of us, he seemed very surprised to see Jack and me there.

"So, you got out of that hole. It seems that I underestimated you two, a mistake that I will never make again."

Despite his harsh tone, I noticed that he had a slight relieved expression on his face when he saw me. I responded by giving him my Super Death Glare™. With a wave of his arms, the tidal waves of Fearlings sped towards us, "Now, it's my turn to be believed in."

The Fearlings charged, and approached us with mind-blowing speed. Just as we were about to be consumed by the darkness, Jamie stuck out his hand, and the black sand turned gold and floated away, and formed into various creatures, such as dinosaurs and sting-rays. The Fearlings continued to charge, and they were also turned gold by the children.

Some of the Fearlings made it past, and the Guardians, as well as Jack, fought them. I saw little Bunny run away from one of the Fearlings, and dive under a car, and when he was dragged out, he was full size again, and threw his boomerangs at the creature. Then, one of the Fearlings took an interest in me, I had no way of fighting it, so I ran into a side street, which turned out to be an alley with a dead end, I tried to fly out, but the pain was too much. I was cornered. As the beast approached me, I saw a weird gleam appear in its eyes, and it walked away, neighing angrily, as if someone took his prey away.

What the actual fuck?! It had me cornered and it just walked away?

I looked around until I saw Pitch, floating several metres above me with a half-smile on his lips and soft eyes, then it all made sense,

He told the Fearling not to hurt me. Why the hell would he do something like that after he nearly killed me in Antarctica?

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? YOU TRY TO KILL ME THEN YOU FUCKING SAVE ME?!" I yelled at him

The smile faded, and was replaced by a sad frown. He said the next two words so quietly, I could barely hear him,

"I'm sorry."

I smiled at him softly, I'm not sure why, but that expression of regret and pure sadness made me almost immediately forgive him. I have no idea what was going through his head when he tried to kill me, but I'm sure he wasn't entirely in his right mind. Then, he started to descend, and within seconds, stood before me. I walked to him, and surprised him by winding my arms around his waist and hugging him tightly, burying my face into his chest. After a few moments, I finally felt his arms around my neck, and returning the hug. The pressure on my bruises made me yelp with pain and leap backwards, breaking the embrace. Pitch saw the bruises on my neck and his eyes widened with shock.

"D-did I do that?"

I nodded reluctantly and nothing could prepare me for what happened next. He fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands.

"What is wrong with me? I finally find someone that doesn't hate me, that understands me, and I do that to them?"

I kneeled next to him, and placed one of my arms around his gently shaking shoulders.

"Don't worry, I'm still alive, aren't I? Don't beat yourself up about it." I said soothingly.

Pitch took his hands away from his face, and looked at me.

"You never cease to amaze me, Claire. How can one such as you, care for a monster like me?"

"That's easy, I care for you because we are alike, we are both alone and no one should be alone. No one." Then, my tone changed, "Now, go back to the sky, the Guardians will be wondering where you disappeared to." I smiled at him

He returned my smile, before calling one of his Fearlings to him and returning to the sky.

I AM SO SORRY D:

The gaps between chapters will never be that long again, I've just had a lot on my plate with school, assignments and my crappy job.

If the gaps between chapters do get a bit long though, feel free to message me, telling me to get a move on.

I love you guys : )