The Guardians were too busy fighting off the invading Nightmares to stop Mysterie as she flew straight out of the nearest window and headed straight for Pitch's lair. She wasn't going to give up on Jack. He was her reason for living, for being; whatever reason Manny had for bringing her back to be an immortal no one knew for certain, but even if there was a different reason for her being she was Jack's protector first and foremost because the winter spirit held her heart. As she flew off to the arctic she plunged into a cavern, one of many of the other entrances that Pitch had around the world and she had seen when she had been his captive before, Jack struggled inwardly against Pitch's influence; slowly he began to wonder the reason as to why he was even fighting Pitch. The Boogeyman smiled, looking into the red orange eyes as they stood in the throne room a few feet from the actual throne. He circled around Jack who just stood still.
"Now to test my control... Jack, who do you serve?" Jack fought for his body to listen, but it was like his voice was on auto pilot, answering without him wanting to.
"You, master." Pitch smirked at the word 'master.'
"And who are our enemies?" Automatically Jack was forced to reply with words that were not his own.
"The Guardians." Pitch smirked as he stopped before Jack.
"Aaand?" Despite Pitch's control, there was hesitation as Jack fought even harder to not answer. Pitch frowned at that and he snapped his fingers. Jack collapsed as pain convulsed through him.
"I can see how much you love her, Jack, but you're going to do me a favor and end her." Jack's eyes widened in terror. Mysterie found the trip was exhausting, but she reached the lair.
"Pitch... you're going to regret this." She hissed, not having the strength to do much more, having ended several Nightmares as she fought her way through the lair; it was a trial just to get this deep into the lair. She was worn out and it was evident, but her eyes shone with determination... She didn't have the boundless recourses that she had on the dream plane. She wasn't going to stop though. Jack struggled as darkness seemed to climb up his neck, forcing its way inside him and he screamed as the darkness moved and squirmed in him. His eyes glowing brighter as Pitch managed to gain full control.
"Now, I have a job for you Jack." He smirked and whispered to some of the Nightmares to follow behind me without being noticed before turning back to Jack, fully indented to tell him to find Mysterie and bring her to him. Mysterie searched the lair for the two, snapping whips at any Nightmares that came too close to her before coming to the throne room where Pitch turned with a smile.
"Ha ha... it's a pleasant surprise to see you here dear." Pitch snickered as did the Nightmares around him.
"Oh Jack, looks like you have a visitor." He called and Jack came from the darkness, leaping from one of the cages above, emotionless as before; as if he were a machine that was only there to follow orders. His eyes snapping to Pitch who smirks. Mysterie shook with fury, but said nothing in return; though it was an effort to stay standing at this point for her for many reasons... the exhaustion, the sorrow that was threatening to overwhelm her, the whispering voices of Jakul and Shadow...
"Now my dear, I believe Jack and I have some Guardians to destroy." Jack looked at Pitch, awaiting orders, not even acknowledging Mysterie's presence.
"Master, what are my orders?" Pitch smiled at Jack then smirked darkly at Mysterie.
"First, get rid of this dream walking pest." Jack turned to her, eyes instantly flashing with orange fire as he called ice and snow; the wind whispering "sorry" as it slammed Mysterie into the nearest wall of the lair. She whispers back in return.
"It's okay... it's not your fault..." A tear slipped down her face even as she picked herself up. A sand spear appearing in her hand and she tossed it at Pitch despite that her eyes didn't leave Jack. Pitch growled as he destroyed the spear.
"Get rid of her! Now!" Jack cried and screamed on the inside even as the wind sent ice cutting into her and ice spikes shot from his staff; several missed as she dodged the attack, but one slid into her left arm, causing her to cry out in pain. There were tears leaking from the unblinking orange eyes as Jack struggled, it was hard just to utter the words he managed.
"M-mysterie... I-I'm... sorry..." With that, Jack lost control again and used the winds to make a snow storm vortex that surrounded the two of them, making it impossible for her to strike at Pitch a second time and trapping her at the same time. He summoned ice daggers that hung in the air a moment, slashing into her at his command as the wind slammed them into her.
"I don't blame you..." She whispered before the ice daggers slammed into her, she cried out as the daggers cut her, quietly crying as the sand she commanded tried to keep up with all of the wounds, but it's difficult with so many of the daggers and she barely had the will to push Shadow back into the back of her mind. Jakul is oddly silent. Jack screamed a war cry, the only other think he did as the pain hit him as he summoned a final blow, ice magic pouring from him and slamming into Mysterie; the power increasing with each passing moment and everything went white for a brief moment before the surroundings came back into focus. The ice magic cut deeply into Mysterie, Shadow and Jakul shrieked in her mind, but their shrieks were silenced suddenly as the pain rippled through her and she let out a shriek of pain before she seemed to just explode into millions and millions of silver dust particles. They glisten in the dim light as they float down, decorating everything around them. Inside, Jack broke from the black liquid that was holding him and his eyes became blue once more.
"MYSTERIE!" Jack's scream echoed in the large area, all of his pain went into it as Jack ran to the spot where Mysterie had once stood; collapsing to his knees before the spot, tears pouring from his eyes as he began to cry hard.
"No! Why me?! WHY me?!" Jack cried loudly, all his anguish for Mysterie poured into the words and he collapsed from fatigue. Pitch picked up Jack with black sand.
"Tsk tsk Jack, you seem to have tired out. Well, let's get you to bed for now." He pulled Jack with him into the nearby shadows to place him into a room similar to the room that Shadow had once taken him to before, though this one had a real door. Laying the unconscious winter spirit on the black silk sheets before disappearing.