A/N: I know I'm a terrible person when it comes to cliffhangers and I'm sorry. It's just I have a hard time knowing when to stop writing and I usually just stop writing before something complicated takes place, which regularly results in cliffhangers. I promise it's worth it, though (except, I say that a lot, don't I?)!

Also, just a side note for anyone who's interested, I've posted (yet another) story! This one's going to be a shorter one than the other two (Granting Asylum and The Things No One Knows, which both desperately need updates, I know, I know) that I'm working on. It's a crossover of Rise of the Guardians and How To Train Your Dragon (yes, it is a HiJack fic... guilty as charged) that I've been wanting to try. Hopefully some of you might check it out? I'd really appreciate it. :)

Anyway, please read, review, and enjoy! :D

Chapter 27 - Cracked Walls

Cinder, still cloaked in a thin towel, walked adjacent to Bunny as they made it back to the room in which she was being kept. Their promise still hung thick in the space between them. No matter what, Sophie would be kept safe, as long as either of them had anything to do with it. Hopefully, it would last for the rest of Sophie's lifetime. Cinder didn't care which one of them had to carry it out to the very end, she just wanted Sophie to be cared for and loved. The girl needed some magic in her life, some grand story for her to tell her children and their children and so on. Cinder wasn't sure why, but she felt she had an obligation to Sophie. Knowing that Bunny did too tossed a wave of relief over her head. If she were to die tomorrow, perhaps it would be in peace after all.

As they rounded the corner, a voice carried out urgently. The walls were nearly reverberating. Since Cinder's nearly blind eye turned toward the next hallway, she couldn't tell who it was. But the voice was unmistakable.

Jack had come to see her after all.

"Jack?" Cinder burst in front of Bunny, a smile already wide on her face. She didn't care if she was going to get pulled back into her room afterwards. Her heart skipped a beat. She'd never been this excited to see anyone ever. For some reason, Jack was beginning to have that effect on her. Or maybe it was because he promised to get her tooth case, and maybe he'd brought it back. Cinder ran down the hall, careful not to let her towel fly away. "Jack, you came to see me!"

"You liar!" What? Before Cinder could slow down and register her hearing, Jack's arms took a hold on her momentum and shoved her against the wall. Frost was spiraling up her arms and around her body, shivering her to the bone. His bright blue eyes were inches from her face, their stare menacing. Cinder's heart was still pounding, but for a completely different reason now.

"Wha─" Cinder had hardly regained her breath, but Jack wouldn't let go. "What are you talking about?"

"You burned those villages! You probably killed innocent lives! You─ You─" Jack's weight was suddenly lifted and Cinder slumped to the floor. Bunny had hopped over and grabbed Jack from behind, rendering his arms useless. Jack squirmed against the Guardian's grasp, but couldn't escape. Tooth had her hand over the winter spirit's mouth. Jack was shouting muffled profanities and shooting enraged looks directly at Cinder, looking like a wild animal. The girl sat there, her hair towel had fallen off and the water dripped slowly down her bare skin. The warmth of the workshop was gone.

"Jack! What's going on?" Tooth looked at him intently. "Just the other day you wanted us to leave her alone! Why'd you fly in here so quickly just to yell at her! We can't even prove anything yet!" So they already had it figured out? Cinder's mind flooded with worry. Maybe Pitch didn't take out the fearlings to protect her...

Jack was dropped by Bunny and the winter Guardian brushed off his sweatshirt before turning to Cinder. "Well, I can prove it. I found your ring, Cinder. The fire spirit's ring. On Sophie's finger." Jack took it out of his pocket and held it out to her. The familiar green and blue speckles danced sporadically as he gripped it in his fingers. Cinder almost reached out for it, but something told her to wait. "And that cloak? That's the fire spirit's cloak, I remember it now," he was pointing at her accusingly. He clenched the ring and put it in his pants pocket. Not his sweatshirt pocket where he normally put anything he was carrying. Cinder wondered if this was anything of significance.

"I told you, Pitch was contro─" Cinder began the lie that rolled off her tongue so often now that it was forming into a truth.

"Liar!" Jack had closed the space between them again. Cinder had hoped this would happen again, but not quite with this set of circumstances. It was a little disappointing that her body began to inch closer to him, regardless of the details. "Pitch can't control those things!"

"And you're calling me the liar?" Cinder shoved Jack backward, forgetting that she had been trying to hold up her towel. It dropped to the floor and the three Guardians' faces burned. Bunny and Tooth instantly turned away, but Jack was still glaring into her eyes intently. And yet, the action was surprising enough that Cinder was able to continue yelling. "Pitch has always been a liar, surely you know that? Didn't he ever try to bring you to his side? Do you know what he's capable of doing? He's pulled me under his control so many times I don't even want to count!"

Jack's anger seethed as he continued in a low voice. "Sure, he did try to pull me to his side. He was close," Jack picked up Cinder's towel and tossed it at her, bringing his icy breath in front of her face, "but I was strong enough to oppose him."

Those words stung, and the ice from Jack's mouth spread frost across Cinder's features, raising goose bumps on her shoulders and arms. Cinder's good eye searched Jack for any trace of regret in what he'd said. There was none. Jack's normal self was fueled with anger hotter than Cinder's fire. She could feel tears pool into her eye and her lungs seared as she heaved. The pain that fluttered in her stomach was rising and the panic was beginning to blur her already failing vision.

Cinder's gaze dropped. It was time. "Fine. I did it. I burned those places. I've burned thousands of places. You know the First Great Fire of New York City in 1776? I did that. You know the Great Chicago Fire of 1871? I did that too. But I did none of them voluntarily. Some of them were even accidental. And yeah, I've killed people," Cinder returned her stare to everyone watching, but she looked directly at Jack. "Do you know how hard it is to control fire? I'm sure you have enough work in containing the frost that lines every step you take! Snow and ice kill people, too, Frost. But it's the same thing between us. We didn't mean to kill people. It just happens. I hated working for Pitch. That's why I moved around so much, taking odd jobs. I took the job with Jamie and Sophie because I didn't want him to find me. I couldn't stand being pulled under again. And I fucked up. Jamie was pulled into it, too, fearlings and all. And by the way, I had no idea of their existence until the other day when Pitch showed up on the lake. But it doesn't matter, because I fucked up, okay? I know this. I know all of this. I've made fucking horrible choices, and I've gotten so many people hurt," Cinder's tears streaked down her face now. Her throat was raw and her limbs were weak but she just needed to pull through a few more seconds. It was her last plea, her last chance to set things straight. All of the truth she could muster would fall from her lips, hopefully not on deaf ears. "That's why I'm here, right now. I want to right my wrongs. I want to take down Pitch. I want my own life. And I want to protect theirs." As Cinder finished her rant, she could see Tooth's eyes misting over, Bunny was ruffling the back of his head with a nervous paw, and Jack's jaw had dropped.

Tooth was the first to speak after a long, heavy silence. "Y-you're a spirit?" She said it like she couldn't quite believe it. Jack most definitely didn't believe it, but he let the fairy continue. "You said the years 1776 and 1871. Cinder... exactly how long have you been eighteen?" Tooth wasn't accusing her of anything. Her soft eyes were filled with concern and Cinder wanted to believe that Tooth believed her.

"I don't remember anymore," Cinder choked out, her voice and tears nearly spent.

But Jack had remained resentful. He put his hand in his sweatshirt pocket and handed a tooth case to Tooth, his eyes never leaving Cinder's. Cinder's eyes darted to the case and she instantly recognized the picture. She gasped, but before she could say anything Jack interrupted her. "Would this tell you, Tooth?"

Tooth placed her delicate hands on the case and took it from Jack's grip. She squealed in fear almost instantly and nearly dropped the case to the floor. Passing a hand over the cover, Tooth lowered her head and shook it slowly. The air was thick and Cinder's heartbeat pounded in her ears.

"This case is from your time period, Jack."

The words made everyone turn toward Tooth. Bunny was shocked, but he remained a bystander. He had the most muscles in this group and could easily pull people away from each other if something went down. Then there was North, but he wasn't exactly present for this matter. Jack looked absolutely terrified and confused and perhaps a little doubtful. But Cinder wasn't quite grasping it. What did it matter if she was from the same time period? That didn't mean they knew each other. She was the first to object. "So what? I could be from England, for all we know!"

"You'd still carry the accent, mate," Bunny noted, which the redhead found amusing. Cinder knew he was right, but she still wouldn't draw any conclusions. There was no way, there couldn't be. Jack was from Colonial America. Even if she was from the same continent, she doubted they would be from the same settlement. Those places were small and very few women lived there. The chances of Cinder having ever been there was impossible.

"Well," Cinder turned to Tooth with pleading eyes, "am... am I allowed look?" Cinder was finally within reach of remembering what happened before waking up under those dreadful charred logs with a body burned to a crisp. She wanted desperately to know if she had a life worth remembering. Did she have a family? Was she a mother? A lonely bum? Any answer would suffice, she just needed to know. It would direct her; she'd have a purpose. But with the current state of affairs, who would let a fire-using murderer have the joy of going through their childhood memories?

Tooth seemed to go back and forth on what to say. Cinder was losing hope with each passing second, and the dried tears pulled at her cheeks. "The thing is... you and Jack would both have to look together."

Cinder was outraged. "What? Why does this frosty idiot have to watch my memories? That's so... exposing!" Cinder hugged her shoulders, suddenly very self-conscious about the fact that she was wearing no clothes and her towel wasn't covering a whole lot. She wasn't usually so protective of her body, considering her track record, but she wasn't exactly in front of like-minded people. Or people at all, for that matter. A spirit, a giant-rabbit-thing, and a fairy or hummingbird were her audience. It was almost as unsettling as the idea of letting Jack look through her memories.

Tooth turned to Jack. "You didn't tell her?"

"Didn't tell me what?" Cinder wheeled desperately to Jack.

Jack looked away momentarily, scratching his head with his staff. Throughout this entire ordeal, he never once let go of that thing. There were very few times, as Cinder thought of it now, that he'd ever not had the thing in his hand. Jack let a long, cold breath cascade out. "Pitch planted one of my teeth in your case."

"He planted it?" It was Tooth's turn to be mystified. She didn't know about this? The case has been in the Tooth Fairy's possession for only─ how old was Cinder? ─ three hundred years and Tooth didn't know? "Did he say so?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "He said he had his reasons... a change of plans or something. He did it when he stole the teeth four years ago. Which I'm sure you were a part of," Jack glared accusingly in Cinder's direction.

"As if," Cinder was feeling rather aggressive, but she wasn't sure why. Well, yes she was. Jack was attacking her when he'd always been so nice to her. It was unlike him and Cinder sort of wanted to slap him. She thought better of it, though, and continued. "I told him he could do it himself. If he was directly in front of me and made the order, things might have been different."

"So when you went to rescue Jamie, and you struck a deal, he forced you to trade your teeth?" Jack questioned her.

Cinder realized what he was trying to get at and cut him off. "Yes─ I burned the Tooth Palace with the volcano. Yes, I released thousands upon thousands of fearlings onto the earth. But remember, I had no idea what fearlings were at that point." If the truth was coming out, it was going to all come out. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tooth's face become crestfallen with the smallest hints of anger. She didn't seem to be the type to get angry often. Cinder almost wished she had held her tongue, but she knew that there was no way around it. She needed them to trust her, although it looked like she might never have their trust. Glancing at the case, Cinder fought the urge to grab them and run. But she needed Jack, or those memories weren't going to work. "And I'm sorry," Cinder added mainly for Tooth's sake, "but I really didn't have a lot of control over that one. It was either that or I relinquish my job for Pitch over to Jamie, and there wasn't even the slimmest chance of that happening, trust me. I couldn't live with myself if I did that."

Cinder saw that Jack realized his question, his accusation, had fallen flat. Could he really still be this angry? Pursing his lips and darting his eyes away from Cinder, he asked Tooth: "Can't you separate the memories individually? Or take mine out of the case?"

"That's just the thing, Jack," Tooth began to go into a long-winded explanation, "your teeth have been mixed with hers for so long that the memories have become mixed, too. I can sense it. They seem to just flow together. It's odd. I've never seen this happen before. I don't know what it means."

"Well, maybe they do know each other?" Bunny chimed in a guess. "Perhaps they know each other and─ and that's why they're mixin' together or whatever you said." He was unsure of himself, Cinder could tell, but at least he gave some sort of answer. Cinder simply stood in the middle of it all, an uneasy feeling forming in her stomach. She didn't know what to do, and standing still was killing her inside.

"Well, okay," Jack took a step toward Cinder and Tooth, "let's go and view the memories, then!" Jack had instinctually grabbed her arm and Cinder immediately held on, but for some reason neither of them knew why they had done so. Feeling oddly embarrassed, they let go as their cheeks began to color.

Tooth nearly giggled if it wasn't for the still-heavy atmosphere. "I don't know. I've never had to have two people view the same tooth case at the same time. It might not be possible! What if you two get stranded in the memories and don't get to experience them completely? What if you get two incomplete stories? Or what if one mind takes control of the viewing and changes things around? What if─"

"Tooth, Tooth, Tooth," Bunny hopped over and settled his paws on the Tooth Fairy's shoulders, "ya migh' wanna slow down a little there. We'll figure this out. What you're saying is you need them to look through all of the memories at the same pace, with the same view for each?"

Tooth nodded slowly. "I just don't know how I would link the two together."

"Don't you link the teeth to the memories?" Jack took a guess.

Tooth's face lit up, her feathers lifting into the air. "Of course! That's it! Oh, thank you, Jack!" But she didn't say what it was. Tooth flew forward and embraced the winter spirit, to which Cinder silently chuckled. Bunny shared a comical look with her and angled his face toward Jack. They synchronized a wink in his direction, to which Jack blushed even more than before. Bunny and Cinder burst out laughing despite the earlier atmosphere. It was a little weird, but it was what they needed. Tooth, naturally, was oblivious and started flying down the corridor. "This way!"

Jack called a small favor to the wind and flew himself in Tooth's direction. Bunny hopped after them with Cinder jogging not far behind. She wasn't sure what was going on in the Tooth Fairy's head, but if it brought her to her memories, she didn't care. They ran to the corner and Tooth flew into the room. Cinder stopped dead. They were going back into her detainment room. She hadn't spent long in there and it wasn't awfully constricting or mentally painful, but she didn't want to face the probability that she'd get locked up again.

Cinder stood outside the door frame and watched as Tooth began instructing Jack and Bunny about the procedure. The weight of reality fell onto her shoulders and their voices were drowning out. If everything went to plan, Cinder was going to find out who she had been. But was that a good thing? And if she and Jack did know each other, would it change their dynamic? Granted, their dynamic was choppy and crudely romantic at best, but what if they drifted apart? After the events in Las Vegas─ which she dared not recall consciously─ was Cinder really ready to trust people again? She knew she had asked that much of these people, but could she return it? Or was she going to be a hypocrite? The choices swirled in her head and she felt dizzy. Thoughts of the boy with brown hair rose out of the groggy confusion and Cinder's uneasiness swelled. She knew that boy was Jack when he was human. Now she knew why she had those dreams and visions─ Jack's memories were mixed with hers. The panic attacks around him made sense. But if they were panic attacks, had their lives coincided in horrific proportions? Were they truly bitter enemies after all?

Cinder wasn't sure she could handle that. She'd come to the conclusion that she liked him, albeit subconsciously. But that concerned the current Jack. Jack Frost, the boy with white hair, was who Cinder liked. What if the human Jack─ Jackson Overland, as she remembered him telling her on that first night─ was a Jack she didn't want to know? But, they must be similar people? With a startling thought, Cinder realized that her human self might not be similar to whom she was right now at all. Cinder's breath hitched and she wanted to run away. That's right. She'd come this far, so close, and all she wanted to do was run. Run, run, run, run, RUN─

"─and the last person to die should be where the memories end," Tooth concluded, her voice drifting into Cinder's relative consciousness. "You've got all that?"

"Are you sure you've got all that?" Jack joked, shaking his head at Tooth's wild plans, which Cinder hadn't heard. He turned to face Cinder, who was still in the doorway, and smiled confidently. "Are you ready, Cinder?" He held out at hand to her. Cinder's mind flashed back to the first night they'd talked. He had held out his hand to her in the same fashion: with a lopsided grin and eagerness shining in his eyes. But they had both been naive then. They didn't know what they knew now. And they were about to find out more.

Cinder hesitated, just like last time. Bunny saw the uncomfortable look in Cinder's eye and spoke up. "Why don't ya let 'er get dressed first?"

The redhead felt eternally grateful. "I would, but those clothes are dirty. I don't mean to sound snobby, or anything. It's just..."

"Say no more, sheila," Bunny made his way for the door, "I'll go grab somethin' from the yetis. North's gotta bring clothing to some o' the anklebiters on Christmas." Wow, Bunny was eager to leave the room. Could he not want to see what happens?

"Thanks, Bunny," Cinder smiled anyway. The less people to see whatever reactions would occur, the better. Out of the corner of her eye, Jack's jealous glare lingered on the giant rabbit longer than necessary, and it made Cinder giggle before she could realize it. Bunny had already left the room and still Jack was guarded.

"What's so funny?" Jack turned to her, jabbing the side of her arm. Something about this felt natural.

"You're cute when you're jealous," Cinder decided that if their views of each other were about to change that she may as well play up whatever she could. Her voice became sultrier as she continued. "Besides, you knew I didn't have clothes on."

Tooth looked extremely uncomfortable and Cinder recognized that her old personality may not exactly work in this situation. Nonetheless, Jack's cheeks blushed unnaturally pink for someone who shouldn't have any blood in their body. Cinder couldn't help but let a laugh escape from her lips. The air lightened and Jack turned away from her, probably hiding a smile. Tooth shook her head almost disapprovingly, but she couldn't hide her smile as well.

Bunny came back into the room with a bunch of fabric stacked in his arms. "I just grabbed whatever I found. It shouldn't really matter."

"I didn't have much taste, anyway," Cinder commented ruefully, sifting through the pile nonchalantly.

"That sweater was a little tacky," Jack added with a smirk.

Cinder returned a mockingly angry glance in his direction but smiled when she saw that he was smiling too. Turning back to the pile, Cinder saw a giant, oversized red sweater and a pair of girl's shorts, among many tacky Christmas items. Glancing at the others, she waited until they each got the hint to turn around. Letting the towel fall to the floor, Cinder donned the enormous sweater and wriggled her hips into the tiny shorts. They barely reached the top of her thighs and were probably wildly inappropriate since the sweater covered them easily, but it would have to do. Giving her figure one last visual check, she sighed. "I'm ready."

Jack was the first to spin around and look at her. The immediate lopsided grin was back and Cinder thought her heart thumped once or twice. She was apprehensive and curious about him all at once, the uneasiness now mixing with butterflies in her stomach. Wasn't he lethally angry at her a few minutes ago? It was a strange sensation, but Cinder wasn't sure if she wanted to give it up quite yet. It was intoxicating, like all of her favorite drinks poured into one and given to her in one large dose. The resulting high was already addictive, and Cinder found herself─ yet again─ struggling to make herself look at her memories. But as she looked at Jack, she thought she found the same indistinguishable feeling within him. Did he not want to know what he was missing either?

Was ignorance truly bliss?

Tooth popped up behind Jack's shoulder and darted her eyes in between the two of them. "So, are we all set to begin?" Her smile was bright and reassuring.

Jack's eyes landed on Cinder and they both nodded, saying together: "Ready."

Tooth squealed, being unusually excited. "Alright! So Jack, you'll take this side of the bed and Cinder, well, you'll take the other."

Cinder suddenly remembered that she hadn't listened to the instructions. Instead of embarrassing everyone further, she simply followed suit and climbed onto the very slim bed. Jack leaned his staff against the nightstand on his side and took his place next to her and they had to be touching so that they wouldn't fall off the bed. His sweatshirt brushed hers and Cinder almost caught herself wishing that their arms had been bare. The feeling of his skin on hers─ without the burning and freezing─ was something she began to yearn for. It was far more intoxicating than─ She immediately threw the thought away and swallowed her pride. Something cold suddenly grasped her fingers and Cinder nearly jerked her hand away. Looking down discretely, she noticed that Jack was holding her hand in his. Jack's fingers were freezing cold but smooth and careful as he cupped her hand with ease. Cinder knew her face was heating up yet again and she had to look away from their entanglement. Tooth didn't appear too concerned as she was readying the tooth case, smoothing it over and debating how best to place it. Cinder figured this must have been a part of the instructions.

Jack swiveled his head to his left and whispered quietly to Cinder. "I'm sorry about blowing up on your earlier. I... I wanted someone to blame. But you were right. I know you would never intentionally hurt kids, especially not Jamie or Sophie. When this is all over, I'll take you back to them, I promise."

In the face of every uncertainty, of every probability, Cinder knew that Jack's offer was genuine. For the second time in her life, she felt understood.

But for the first time in her life, Cinder felt like she was being seen.

Tooth popped her head over them, shattering the moment. "Alright! So when you're ready, both of you need to put your hands inside the top here," Tooth pointed to the flat piece with small blue and green gems in the shape of diamonds, with a larger purple one in the middle, "and keep your eyes open until the memories begin. Then your bodies should adjust to being outside watchers and they'll take care of themselves. Memories usually don't take longer than a few minutes, but this isn't exactly a normal case, is it?" Tooth giggled, but stopped as soon as Bunny gave her a certain look. "Just remember, keep a constant connection to each other, no matter what."

Cinder as about to ask how that was to be done when the case was settled on top of their clasped hands, the cool metal and Jack's cold fingers chilling her thoughts instantly. Jack squeezed her hand, as if to say that it was all going to be okay. Cinder squeezed back and saw Jack's smile in the corner of her vision.

"We'll stay right here with you, mates," Bunny added.

"Good luck," Tooth waved.

Looking at the boy with snow-white hair one last time, Cinder joined her hand in his upon the tooth case. For a second, nothing happened. Then the room became overbearingly bright and diamonds lifted from the case, becoming translucent as they faced the pair. Keep your eyes open, Cinder! The diamonds and lights danced around a little faster before clicking into place.

And Cinder learned who she had been.

A/N: I'M SORRY ABOUT THE CLIFFHANGER BUT GUYS, GUYS, GUYS, I AM SO EXCITED. THE NEXT FOUR CHAPTERS ARE ALL THE MEMORIES OF CINDER'S AND JACK'S FORGOTTEN PASTS.

Okay, rant over. I'm sorry. (You'd think I was Canadian what with all of these apologies! Sorry if that offends anyone. ... See what I mean?!) I'll update these chapters much more quickly because I've had these written out even before I had the rest of this story planned. *Excited hand flailing* EEK!

Next update is on Friday, without fail! Unless you want them sooner, of course! :)