Teensophie-draws, I'm throwing this girl some Easter eggs. Lol my friend showed me the tag this fic has on tumblr and I loved the doodles she sketched (may I use one as a cover art pretty please?). Big smiles to Xanthera too. (: Okay so now you all met 'badass' Jack (your reviews are great lol) and don't worry, Tooth will have asses to kick too. But for now I can finally move into real grit of this story! So here we go.

Urban slums outside Ho Chi Minh City, 2:49 am

A car drove until it reached a new city and pulled up to a curb on a rundown clubbing district. The second the driver killed the engine, Tooth threw her door open and stumbled out.

Jack stepped out more gracefully and scanned the bustling street but all he saw were a couple guys walking drunk across the sidewalk. When some girls eyed him as they clicked in their heels towards a nearby club, he turned and shut the door. He gave the princess a quick glance before he walked around to the back of the car.

"Let's rest okay?" he said and Tooth nodded. She wiped a hand across her mouth and stared at the open night sky.

Tooth hated enclosed spaces. She loved the feeling of wide, open spaces and having enough air to fill her lungs so when she saw the stars and felt the cool breeze in her face, she nearly cried. She never wanted to be kidnapped again.

Tooth flit her eyes around the district and took in the signs and the bright lights. The signs were not in English but she understood them just fine.

They were Vietnamese logos.

Tooth frowned. Pitch's men really had driven for a while after they kidnapped her. Twelve hours west in fact.

She was in an entirely different country!

It made sense though...she'd only been tied up in that room for about twelve hours and still a full day had passed.

If this mysterious guy hadn't shown up, she'd probably still be there...or worse.

Tooth turned to Jack, heart racing, and saw him bent low beneath the car. When he pulled back up, a tiny piece of metal was twirling in his gloved hand. He looked down at it petulantly.

"W-What is that?"

He gripped it tightly before he dropped it on the cement and smashed it with the heel of his boot.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." He then went to open the back door of the car.

Tooth blinked her cerise-colored eyes. Jack was really a guy of few words.

As he bent low under the passenger seat, Jack took out his knife and cut a hole in the leather and pulled out another piece of metal. Coming out, he dropped it on the ground with the ear complink he stole and destroyed them too.

When the blinking red light died, he flexed his pale fingers and ran them through his hair. Tooth eyed him nervously.

"A tracker?"

Jack looked down at her briefly before he reached down to scoop up the pieces and dump them in a nearby drainage hole.

"Three actually. Pitch's dealers don't pay as much attention to detail as I do."

She nodded numbly and watched him return. Jack suddenly pulled out a lighter and sparked a flame.

"What are yo–" she started but saw something in his other hand.

When he lit the small bag of grey-purplish powder, he tossed it into the backseat of the car and slammed the door.

A second later, the dried mixture made a small explosion and the car began to smoke with purplish clouds. When a little fire started, Jack then turned to Tooth and beckoned her with a finger to follow him.

"Hey!"

He shouted to a group of drunk club hoppers hanging out nearby. They turned to look at him.

Jack threw a thumb at the car not caring if they understood a word he said.

"Check out the fire!"

But when they saw it, they cheered and grabbed nearby objects on the street until soon, most of the people were beating the car to a bloodied pulp in drunk happiness.

Tooth's jaw dropped but when she turned to look back up at Jack, he was already walking past their abandoned table...holding a wallet he'd somehow managed to fish from one of their bags.

His face was staring down the street ahead, serious as always.

...

They walked for a while and Tooth frowned. She tried to keep up with his longer strides but the janitor pants tangled around her ankles. Jack was looking through the wallet, absentmindedly scanning the cards and counting the bills inside.

She felt odd.

He didn't grab her or yank her along like he'd done earlier, barking 'Stay princess!' here and 'Go princess!' there. The guy practically harassed her all night with his tugging. yet now it looked like Jack didn't give a crap about her. He didn't even look back once to make sure she was even still following.

He was cold. That or bipolar...But Tooth couldn't decide which since Jack so far wasn't very emotional and he was all business.

Still, it didn't stop her from staring at his back as he walked.

Jack wore a black turtleneck and black fitted trousers that were cinched at the cuff to fit into his black combat boots. A classic full-bodied spy outfit if there ever was, but he didn't look at all uncomfortable in the nightly southeast asian heat like she was. She bit her lip.

He also was taller than she thought. But then again, that's what the darkness does to you. It twists the image.

It dims down one's appearances.

Which meant Jack wasn't just cute.

He was good-looking, like, really good-looking. To her anyway.

She couldn't stop her magenta eyes from staring at the way his shoulders sauntered as he walked confidently down the sidewalk. He looked like he was on a mission...okay, so maybe he was but Tooth couldn't help it. She hadn't been around a guy with this much self-assurance before, even when his steps were virtually catlike.

Jack was well-built from what the black outfit could outline. His lean body was solid and more filled out from the torso up but she already knew that all the power came from his legs. When he rubbed his eye with his gloved hand, she instantly drifted up to his brown locks and was interested in the tiny white strands again. He kept rubbing the thumb of his ungloved hand over his knuckles and flexing them in the wind. Nervous twitch maybe?

Tooth froze mid-step.

Jack's boots kept trudging on ahead but she glared at his feet.

She then quickly mimicked his footsteps...but walked backwards.

Tooth walked as silent as she could but the second she hit the open alleyway they just passed, she dove in!

...

Tooth moved quickly, crouching as she slinked under the shadow of Ho Chi's slum homes. When she was sure there was enough distance, she ran for it.

Tooth dodged some garbage and when a hungry cat walked by and looked her in the face, she brought a finger to her lips. It meowed anyway.

'Stupid cat!' she yelled in her head and moved around it. 'Crap! OH CRAP!'

Ahead of her was a street that looked like it headed into a neighbourhood – and there were people!

Finally! Civilization and normal, (relatively) safe people she could run to for help!

Tooth was almost there!

She needed to get to them, she needed to despite how hard it was to run in her baggy janitor's unifor–

–Jack grabbed her shoulder out of nowhere and spun her around.

"Oh my god!" she screamed. "Hel–" Her voice caught her throat.

He was livid against the shadows. Cold and unforgiving.

"Where the hell are you going?"

Terrified and running on her adrenaline, Tooth eyed his hand on her shoulder. Abruptly, she snapped her hands up and gripped his wrist.

'Come, on! Do it like they taught you!' Tooth cried in her head and thought about her bodyguards. She bent his hand and deftly twisted it sideways. But Jack twisted himself out of it easily.

Her heart beat wildly.

Jack then moved his arm forward to catch hers but Tooth spotted it.

"Don't forget, princess. You must throw a punch here, like so."

Tooth tried to remember the stance and made a small fist. She threw a punch and hoped to deflect his glove at his joint, but Jack's other hand easily caught her wrist and lifted it over her head. He stepped behind her as he held it and bent her elbow down in front of her so he could hug her chin in the crook of his own. She jerked wildly.

Jack gripped her in a semi-headlock from behind. Tooth tried to part his arms like they taught her but Jack's unnatural upper body strength was like a bear trap! She jumped on her small feet and cried out angrily but he just plopped her back down.

"L-Let me go, you crazy–"

"Do you not remember how many men I just killed to save your ass?" he muttered darkly. "You can't fight me."

"I-I don't care! I can try!"

She tried to stamp on his foot, but Jack moved it aside swiftly. Tooth gritted her teeth.

"If you kill me, I swear, I'll make sure my spirit follows you to hell and back!" she spat.

"And then what?" he remarked. "What about your family? Your kingdom?"

"As soon as they find Pitch at that warehouse, then I'll make sure to leave a trail on you."

Jack scoffed.

"Pitch isn't there anymore."

"You would know," Tooth quipped and tried to elbow and knock him in the jaw at the same time. She only managed to do the second but still he didn't let go.

Instead, he tightened his hold around her and looked at her head of hair. Tooth panicked but refused to show fear. She looked up ahead of her angrily and kept pulling.

"I'm serious," Jack snarled. "Look, you only know him based on the facts you learnt in a classroom and what the media can scrounge up. But you forget that I know him."

Jack's voice dropped.

"Pitch is a shadow," he breathed low, dark and husky like the way Tooth imagined serial killers to behave. "He comes and goes like a devil...Why do you think he's never been caught for years?"

Tooth breathed heavily against his bicep, its toned muscles running taut under her chin. Her fingers grew weaker the more she tried to dig her fingers into his black sleeve but Jack barely paid attention to it.

"So until I can figure out what to do with you, you don't leave...Not unless you want your head inside one of Pitch's bags again."

The second he loosened his grip, Tooth threw his arms apart and moved away. Jack crossed his arms and glared at her.

She spun to face him, cheeks flushed red and heart aching under her ribcage. Against her better judgement she found herself staring at his toned arms under his sleeves until she shook her head. Her anxiety was sky rocketing and his good-spy-bad-spy routine was frustrating to the point of nausea.

"If you don't even know what to do with me, then why put up with me?!" Tooth argued. She tried to push her hair behind one ear but its thickness made it flop back against her cheek and she threw her hands up, annoyed and frazzled.

"Send me home, drop me at a police station, leave me with a nice Vietnamese family who'll probably want to set me up with their oldest son! W-Why do you bother when I only slow you down?!"

Jack blinked at the 'set-me-up-with-their-son' comment before he twisted his face.

"Because you matter to Pitch. And Pitch matters to me."

"You haven't even told me your full name! It's just what, 'Jack'?" she cringed. "And w-what are you? Some sort of spy? Or a...H-How can I even trust you?!"

A dark look passed across Jack's brown eyes and he gritted his teeth.

'Those damn teeth again!' her head cried and Tooth snapped and let loose a string of curse words mixing from Thai to English...but Jack couldn't handle it anymore.

"Because you'll be dead if you don't."

When she turned back to him, he was standing in front of her with a deep look of tension. His weight was resting on one foot and he raised a finger in Tooth's face.

"And don't you ever try to pull a gunner on me," he threatened. "You won't make it out of my sight for two minutes, let alone fight me."

Then he said nothing more, daring her to challenge his authority over her.

Tooth's mouth fell open.

The seconds ticked by painfully.

Then she gave him an openly distressed look before she stomped off. Tooth whizzed past the closed shops with her angry gaze.

Jack was lethal. He was cold. He was dangerous. His reflexes were so hypersensitive that he had her in that terrifying grip in under four seconds!

But oh, he was so right, and somehow that pissed Tooth off more than it scared her.

She didn't know why! Tooth knew she should've been screaming bloody murder the second they reached the city and tried harder to get away. But Jack somehow made her feel like she needed to stand her ground and fight him instead.

His energy provoked her...yet look how well THAT turned out.

Tooth couldn't handle the frustration. She had just made herself look ridiculous!

"Don't turn your back on me, princess," he spit icily but with her adrenaline still pumping she shook her head, dark hair flying wildly.

"Ooh, I should've turned my back on YOU hours ago!"

Tooth continued to mutter to herself as she passed more shops with him trailing behind her.

"Should've rolled out of the car when I had the chance," she grumbled and Jack, thanks to his acute hearing, gave her the most exhausted and annoyed look.

A couple seconds past as they re-entered the rundown shopping district. Neither said a word as Tooth scampered on ahead with Jack watching her like a hawk. But then she slowed suddenly and came to a stop.

Tooth caught her reflection in a glass window.

She grimaced at the sight and quickly licked the side of her hand. Then with a bitter frown, she rubbed it onto her eyelids to wipe away the smudged pink eyeshadow - preening like a bird or cat. When she also saw how messy her hair was, Tooth reached up to the back of her head and took out the only jeweled pin still left in her hair. She then combed through the knots and twisted her blonde streak into her dark hair until it was virtually invisible and used the pin to hold it down. When she was finished, her eyes caught Jack's gaze in the reflection and realized he'd been watching her.

Jack was actually frowning softly.

"You all right?" he asked in a hard tone. "I never asked or checked if you were hurt yet."

Tooth blinked and turned slowly to face him. How was he okay with threatening her one second then being concerned the next?

Her forehead creased worriedly. But she decided to answer him just in case.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm okay."

She waited for his face to change but he still gave her this bruised look, and Tooth found that despite all the hell he'd put her through, her natural tendency to make others feel better slipped through.

For the first time since they met, she tried to give him a tiny smile.

Jack didn't return it.

Yeah, he was most likely bipolar.

Tooth instantly dropped it and bitterly walked away first. This time he followed her.

...

Jack held the door open for Tooth and the princess stepped into the diner in an almost dizzy state.

No one was inside except for the cashier who was wiping down the front counter. He threw them a bored glance and turned around to keep cleaning. He didn't recognize the Princess of Punjam, even with her oversized body suit on. Both were grateful...Jack more so than Tooth.

Jack relaxed somewhat and the two took a seat in an empty booth. Tooth played with her fingers nervously as she looked around the shop. She didn't look up once to stare Jack in the face.

How was she going to call Prime Minister Ty all the way from Vietnam?! God knows what was happening back at the hotel after Pitch's cute brown haired henchman started shooting up the gala.

Tooth then secretly flicked her eyes up at Jack as he was surveying the restaurant. He was rubbing his eye with his fist again.

'Tooth, that's the last time you trust with a cute guy with brown hair,' she bitterly thought and squirmed in her seat.

Jack saw her move and his heavy gaze was back on her. In the light of diner, he realized that her skin was more golden than brown and when she blinked, he raised an eyebrow just as she looked up. Tooth glared at him as his gaze curiously flitted around her magenta irises.

"Do you ever smile?" she spat.

At the question, Jack's face defaulted back into a cold gaze. Tooth immediately let up and frowned.

But as she was about to open her mouth, something caught her gaze. She watched it for a few seconds before it registered. Then her eyes widened.

Jack's eyebrows rose in alert as she clambered out of the booth.

Tooth took a few steps toward the television hanging up in the corner for all the customers to see. It was a breaking news report with her country's name ticked across the red banner. The camera was filming the mess at the conference hall in the Bangkok hotel while a reporter's voice was retelling the events of the shooting and her disappearance.

Jack turned to the cashier who was leaning over the serving counter.

"Hey could you turn that up?" he asked and the man nodded and grabbed the remote to jab the volume button before going back to work uninterested. Jack turned back around to watch the screen.

"Prime Minister Ty," Tooth mumbled under her breath as the news report showed him recounting his plan of action to the public. Seeing his familiar (distraught) face made a large wave of homesickness wash over her.

"What's going..." she paused and listened.

"With the disappearance of the princess and her handmaiden, our country must now take immediate security measures to protect the rest of the council."

Her heart skipped. Tooth didn't know why at first and her hands twitched.

Then she realized.

Disappearance...and her handmaiden...

The words sunk in.

Tooth nearly choked and her hand flew to cover her mouth.

"Tat?" she whispered shakily. "Tat? No...no no no..no!"

Jack's forehead creased and he got up as he watched Tatiana's missing picture show on screen.

"Her eyes are purple," he mumbled and looked at Tooth. A suspicious gaze passed briefly through his eyes before it disappeared.

They both looked so much alike.

"..security and our country's guard posts are doing everything they can to find the both of them.
We have many strong leads and international law enforcement has been called. But..."

Mr. Bangkot deeply frowned into the podium before he looked at the camera again.

"But if the Princess or her captors are hearing this message, please, return her to her people.
Please, return Princess Thia and her handmaiden, they are good girls and d–"

Tooth abruptly turned and left of the shop. Once outside, she ran both hands through her hair.

"Damnit no! NO!" she cried angrily and Tooth kicked a nearby trashcan in frustration. "Tatiana! He took her! H-How?...Why?!"

Jack appeared at her side and looked down at her grimly. His dark eyebrows were knitted together.

"Why would Pitch take her?" he whispered too, trying to make sense of what was going on.

Tooth's eyes were still glued to the tv screen through the window and shook her head still disbelieving.

"I should've never asked her to come with me," she said softly so no one could else hear. "It's all my fault...my little Baby Tooth."

Jack blinked widely before he narrowed his gaze back on her.

"Wait, what did you call her?"

"Baby Tooth," she responded sadly. "It's a name me and the other handmaidens gave her becau–"

She stopped.

The icy chill ran down to her core. It almost stopped her heart.

Tooth's mouth fell open with a cold realization. Jack took a step closer to her.

"Who else knew that?" he asked urgently and as he towered over her shaking form.

"E-everyone," she replied. "Everyone around the island called her Baby Tooth when we were together."

Jack turned away with a dark look on his face. He wanted to smack his head against the wall.

"She was the tooth," he spat coldly.

"No but I...I-If I was," she continued for him. "Then she–"

"You both were," he stopped her.

Tooth's lips quivered.

"But you didn't know?" Jack twisted his head back to hers. "Why her too?"

"I-I don't...I don't know," Tooth mumbled and shook her head. "I don't! I-I DON'T know!"

She couldn't finish as a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach grew. But it wasn't like anyone had known this kind of danger was going to happen! Yes, Tat and Tooth looked alike and sure, they shared the same streak of blonde hair, and okay so everyone back home called her Baby Tooth because of it...but did they really want her as much as the princess? And why?

WHY.

Why was Princess Thia, a virtually unimportant girl on the global map, now so special? Why was her handmaiden?! She fisted a hand into the janitor suit.

And why didn't she know Baby Tooth was trapped in the warehouse too? They could've escaped together!

She looked over at Jack and frowned sadly. He looked like he was beating himself for not being in two places at once. She couldn't stop herself from wanting to reach over and touch his arm but when she tried, he flinched out her touch and moved away. She didn't even feel hurt by it, feeling too upset by what had just occurred.

He steeled himself instantly and clenched his jaw.

"If they wanted her, then this is more than just a simple royal kidnapping," Jack muttered darkly as he stared at the floor. He suddenly lifted his head and looked at Tooth.

"Why do you both have such 'different' eyes?" he asked and Tooth bit her lip at his bristly exterior.

"It's one of the reasons why she was chosen to be my handmaiden," she shrugged heavily. "The others have purple eyes too. It's a security protocol for me. But I..."

Tooth immediately turned her head away from him after the words left her mouth.

She ran a hand across her cheek and Jack noticed the tear that slipped out.

"Why is this all happening?" she mumbled behind her fist. "Oh my god, Tat..." She clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut to stop the rest from leaking out.

Princesses don't cry.

Jack stared into her eyes, catching the flecks of purple that mixed with the pink.

When he took a step forward, Tooth impulsively backed away.

"If Pitch took her, then there's no telling when he'll come back for you."

There was tension in Jack's strong jaw.

"You're not safe anywhere," he said firmly. "Not your palace, not with the police, not even with international security...So you'll stick with me."

What was he implying? She'd have to...to follow him? But he was...he was–

"They took your handmaiden for a reason," he continued after seeing her face twist. "And no regular cop or bodyguard can take on Pitch or his men. Or do you need another example?"

When he turned his head back to the screen, they both saw the wreckage and ambulance lights still at the hotel.

Tooth gulped painfully and looked up at him with a sad frown.

"Don't say that, Jack" she mumbled forlornly but she couldn't help the energy flickering in her chest at the thought of someone like him protecting her. It terrified her too. "They probably already have my security council sending out hundreds in the field to look for me."

"Yeah, and Pitch still wants you too...but neither's gonna find you and we're going after Pitch instead."

Tooth felt the color in her face drain. She didn't like the sound of that.

"W-Why?"

Jack turned to face her.

"Because I'm going protect you."

Tooth didn't shrink away but she furrowed her eyebrows in concern.

"Why are you so hell bent on getting to Pitch?"

Jack didn't say anything at first. He thought about Pitch's eyes and the broken memories that kept resurfacing from some unknown past he still had yet to remember.

Tooth didn't miss the haunted look that passed over Jack's creased features as he moved around her.

"I have my reasons."

Chapter's soundtrack: "Regret" – Blue Stahli