Ok let's be real, I've gotta stop kidding myself. These chapters are never gonna be short again. I'm terribly sorry guys, haha honest! I'll keep trying. Still, haha you have permission to come after me but I warn you I'll just yap you to death hehe, so bring it. Lol and as always, thanks for joining on me on the ride! I just love sharing a new piece with you each week. (:
Over Wales, 3:39 am
'What in the world?'
The golden case lay limp in Jack's hand as his mind swam with questions. He had so many but the only one that kept coming back to the forefront of his mind was what. What was he looking at?
He bit the inside of his cheek.
Jack put it in his lap and gingerly lifted several rectangular sheets of paper. Then dark eyebrows scrunched together under his bangs, he began to analyse them.
Tooth looked up at him preparedly.
She didn't understand what was written on the pieces but figured maybe he'd decode it quicker than she could. Each rectangle was a different size with bunches of swirls and lines all drawn in blue ink. Many strokes went off the edges and some were thicker than others with a couple dashes scattered around. It was all very strange and somehow alluring, but what made the entire thing more sinister than it appeared, were the crude letters and numbers marked on each. Words like time, density, scripts like Ω and ∞, floated around almost aimlessly – it all looked like gibberish! And Tooth could understand languages not advanced science, and the symbols and broken letters weren't forming any sentences.
But after a couple more seconds, a light in Jack's brain went off and he glared at the slips.
"They're jigsaw puzzles," he mumbled accurately.
Tooth blinked as she leaned in closer.
"You're sure? Because each rectangles' a different size. They won't fit each other."
She hadn't asked to sound condescending but wanted to make sure he gave himself the extra reassurance. Jack still nodded as he turned a few in his pale fingers.
"It's an advanced 'squaring the square' tiling game for problem-solving," he explained. "You have to create the integral square using the sides with integer lengths – you know, figure out how to fit each piece in correctly so you get one perfect square...except this time I think it's gonna be a rectangle."
"I guessed as much after you said squaring the square," Tooth sighed but brightened up when she reached over the aisle and pointed at two pieces.
"But hey, don't look so bummed!" she teased, pointing out his darkening scowl as he tried to resize each piece with what Tooth would call his beautiful, genius mind. "Because look, we can just match these blue lines to the ones on some of the others...and I'm sure these letters form sentences if you can do it."
"You mean, we."
And Tooth's face quickly grew warm when she stared up at Jack's serious gaze. She gave a nervous chuckle and smiled up at him.
"I-I'll do my best," she sighed and when her breath hit his nose, he tensed slightly. It still laced with the chocolate and coffee from earlier and reminded him of their dance. His ears tinged a slight red but Toothiana didn't see it as he began to rub his hand over it bitterly.
"Okay let's get started," Jack whispered and he quickly began taking each rectangle and handing them to her. He wanted this strange puzzle decoded now before he let yet another interruption happen on his account. Maybe it was a list of shipping reports for the other ELF, or a secret map of North's ELF system. He could use a new route to stealth through international security.
But as an image of what looked disturbingly like a foot passed on one rectangular sheet, Jack's vision flashed white.
"And start!...'is speed count, doc... 124...32...43, well I'...Time!...Not bad, son. Not bad."
When he came back, Jack looked up at a spot on the wall thoughtfully – that one definitely was new, but it helped boost his confidence slightly.
Tooth didn't notice as she pulled an empty snack trolley beside her and wheeled it between them in the aisle. Jack dropped the sheets flat on the surface and she deftly spread them out, eyeing each with nervous excitement. This was all so weird and as she hummed softly to herself, she hoped that the image the twenty-or-so pieces would make would be worth the work.
That's when her fingers touched a certain rectangle piece. It stood out more to her than the rest.
Tooth lifted a delicate eyebrow and glided it near to her. It was still all gibberish and said nothing she could understand...but it had a bright red stain, a splotch that looked like it had dried several years ago.
Tooth kept squinting at it. It could have very well passed as blood and Jack might've caught her and thought she was a weirdo – not that that ship hadn't already sailed.
But still...to the Hypunjam princess, it felt familiar to her somehow–
Ding!
"I'll be making a descent in two minutes, guys, so have your seatbelts buckled. Oh, and welcome to Wales!"
Jack gritted his teeth in frustration.
"We should do this later," he sighed and Tooth agreed as she quickly began to push the rectangles slips back to Jack.
The entire time until Jack put them all back into the case, she kept her eyes fixed on the one piece with the red spot, rubbing her fingers at the familiar texture it also left on her fingertips.
...
Wales, 3:57 am or really, 2:57 a.m.
The Sleigh Runner landed in Wales an hour behind Rome, so it was really close to three and when North's ELF agent escorted them off the jet, they were met with a limousine. It would driven by another ELF in disguise and upon arrival, he gave Tooth a set of brown-coloured contacts (delivered from North) and Jack showed her how to put them in. When she asked if he'd ever done it before, he passed it off as if it was obvious. Then they were off.
It was a smooth ride but right away Tooth knew the temperature was colder than Rome and she bundled herself tighter into coat. Jack peeked over at her from where he sat lounging his long legs across the adjacent couch line. His trenchcoat was open, skin not feeling the temperature drop and he was fiddling with his white shirt's cuff under the tuxedo again.
Watching her under his intense, maple gaze, his forehead creased.
He knew it wasn't as cold here as it had been in Moscow, and even then she didn't have a jacket or scarf as she did now. But after everything with the airport frenzy, the posters, the Nightmare ambush, and the entire plethora of what had come with meeting Nicolas St. North and his crazy European spy team, Jack's attention to the princess seemed to have gotten worse – or better? He wasn't sure he could categorize it, not that he wanted to.
Noticing meant he appreciated her well-being in a certain way, which meant he had a particular way of looking at her, and if he had a particular way of looking at her, it meant that he cared.
And while he wanted to look out for her well being, Jack knew it wasn't his place as a spy, as her bodyguard to notice things, notice her like that.
And that left a bitter taste on his tongue.
"Ouch!"
He blinked when he saw her pull her hand away from her mouth. The whole ride, Tooth kept biting her painted fingernails anxiously and she broke some skin.
"I don't have any bandages on me," he spoke up, biting his cheek again almost apologetically. The ELF put his police belt in storage until the gala would be over, along with the rest of their things.
Tooth snapped her head up at him, coming back to earth at the sound of his voice.
"What?"
The brunette blew a heavy breath past his lips and leaned forward on his knees after moving them off the couch.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he frowned, trying to read her thoughts with his ever-calculative mind.
Tooth nodded and pushed some of her hair behind her ear. Jack seemed more comfortable reaching out to her now, what a miracle...but then she figured it was probably more due to the fact that she'd been staring out the window like spazz. She was thinking awfully hard about which handmaiden would be waiting for her since North never specified.
"I will be, once we get to the hotel," she sighed happily.
"Maybe you should chew some gum until we get there," he instead suggested and pointed at her elegant clutch in her lap where the pack (along with the case) was hiding. He knew going to the hotel on North's orders wasn't like taking on fifteen Nightmares or a gang of bar thugs, but the level of anxiety she'd have to endure could probably match either scenario. Not that Jack knew what anxiety was in those kind of fights – he didn't really feel anything past the adrenaline.
Tooth blinked however, with her (new) dark-eyed stare, and looked up at him as the Christmas lights from the English streets lit up her golden face sporadically.
She then looked down at his hands and the way he weaved them together under his chin thoughtfully before shaking her head.
"No," she tried to stutter bravely. "If you're here, Jack...I-I'll be okay."
Then she turned to look back out the window, but Jack continued to stare.
She thought about the snowflake scar in his palm and the way his smile (teeth all lined up so perfectly) made her feel back in Rome, and he couldn't ignore how his earlier feelings from dancing with her came rising up just to smack him across the heart.
...
Wales hotel, 3:03 am
When they arrived the front of the hotel, both were surprised to see how lively the place was for 3am. Normally people were asleep or the parties came to a close but North had said it was a special party – and with it being Christmas, it was to be expected.
The gala was lit up and decked out...and looked like it had already started! Much security scoured the area around the rich and powerful and with it being so late, not many paparazzi had known about it so it was a comfortable secret event.
As the limo came to a complete stop in front of the grand red-carpeted stairs, the ELF PA'd them from the front.
"Your highness," he addressed in a British accent and Tooth and she piqued up at her title. "Remember, you and Jack are your under assumed names for tonight. As well, your handmaiden has not yet arrived so you must walk the floor until one of us informs you of her arrival."
Jack quickly hit the intercom button for her.
"Thank you, sir," she thanked him kindly. He came back a second later.
"You're very welcome. As well, the Chief wanted me to inform you, Jack, that all your original bank records have been retrieved. The funds have been transferred into your fake name and should you want to access them again, the temporary password is ELECTRONICALPHA."
"That's...incredible," the brunette mumbled to himself and Tooth shot him an encouraging smile. Finally! After all this time hiding and stealing, he had actual money he'd earned on his own. Maybe he could see what his earnings were as an field agent were, or when he made his last transactions and figure out what he'd been doing before the GUARDIAN program fucked him over. But while he wanted to, he knew now wasn't the best time and pressed the button instead.
"Tell North Spasibo for me," Jack responded gratefully. "Will do, sir," and the two cut out.
Feeling more invigorated, Jack reached behind him to make sure his retractable staff and rifle were still in place. Toothiana sighed and began to take off her coat.
"Well," she said as she dropped her trenchcoat from her shoulders and replaced it with her pink shawl. "How's my hair?"
Jack blinked as he paused midway to take off his trenchcoat. He lifted his eyebrow at her.
"Uh, fine?"
"Wh...what is fine?" she piped and moved up to pat the high ponytail gently. "W-We're about to enter into British high society and all you can say is that my hair is just fine?!"
"Well, what do you want me to say?" he rolled his eyes. "It's been the same for several hours. And you should really be worrying about if Pitch might show up tonight since he did the last time you went to one of t–"
"Should I have it down?" she butt in as she whirled her head to the window and tried to see her reflection.
"Toothiana!"
"Y-Yeah, you're right. Maybe down is better."
Jack squeezed the bridge of his nose.
"Give me strength," he grumbled. Not that he really believed in any deities; Jack was more of a karma's-gonna-kick-you-in-the-ass-unless-I-do-it-first sorta fella.
"Oh shush!" she quipped and with a sad sigh, Tooth decided to pull out her hairband and pins to give her a more plain-Jane look. When all her wavy hair curled around her face, she fluffed and primped it quickly before giving a quick shrug.
"Better?" she said indifferently. But Jack actually frowned slightly and began to take off his coat again.
"I think I liked your hair up better," he said simply and she blushed.
"Y-You did?"
"Yeah, you reminded me of a cockatoo–"
And Tooth slapped him upside the head with a red, angry face. The whole night they'd been basically cozing up to each other in Rome and that's how he'd seen her?!
"Ooh, I'm so embarrassed!" she whined to herself and tried to cover her eyes with one hand.
But after Jack rubbed his head and grumbled to himself, he reached over and pulled her hand from her face. He shot her the world's smallest smile, but it was still there.
"I was kidding. Honest, it actually suits you better."
And she blinked as her face grew warm again.
"O-Oh."
"But don't worry, it's still all right."
But before he let go her hand, like he'd done before when he jumped into the fight with North and the Nightmares, he squeezed it slightly, trying to console her before she was ready to jump back into limelight again.
"Remember...I'm here. So you keep your eyes on the people, and I'll keep my eyes on you."
And she nodded kindly. Jack then sighed, already dreading the uptight night to come.
He took off his overcoat, he opened his door and stepped out. The ELF was already standing beside the limo as Jack went around and opened her door. When her heel stepped out and the rest of her beauty gracefully followed, Jack watched her look up at him with a supportive smile. He grabbed her hand again and pulled her from the limo completely.
"Let's do this," she said as she got out and when she was standing on her own two feet, she slipped her hands into the familiar crook of his toned arm.
"And to think," he whispered as he tightened his grip for her support, "almost eighteen hours ago, you were screaming at me on a motorcycle."
She blushed as he allowed the ELF to bow to her gracefully before the two and moved up the grand stairs.
...
Inside the Wales hotel, 3:08 a.m.
The ELFs had switched the hotel's camera recording earlier so as to erase Jack and the princess' appearance at the Christmas eve party.
When the two crossed the marble threshold, Jack noticed several more ELFs dressed in black suits moving about and nodded in confirmation when they passed. When one made direct eye contact with the him, he slipped the brunette a twin set of ice blue promise rings for him and Tooth to wear on their forefingers. Jack nodded back curtly. 'These guys think of everything. Way to go, North.'
Guiding Toothiana by the hand, he quickly slipped one onto her finger discreetly and shortened his long strides to match hers. She looked down at it curiously but nodded quickly when she saw his identical band to match. With each click of her heel, her leg showed from the slit in the dress and Jack's expression softened to imitate his straight posture and silent footfalls. They looked like the perfect couple moving into the grand hall and after a quick introduction by the doorman, Jack and Tooth bowed. For show, Jack lifted her hand to his mouth and brushed her knuckles with his lips then when he slipped his arm around her waist, they continued forward into the room.
Tooth smirked up at him. Her heart threatened to jump out of her chest.
"So I take it you've been to these sort of things before?"
"Actually no," he quirked a brow. "I'm a covert operative, Toothiana. I blend in and hide, I don't stand out. But I just assumed."
"Oh," she said and pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well, you're good."
And Tooth was right. Right off the bat, all the European guys who'd been eyeing her the second she appeared and heard her name call, instantly flamed out when they saw their rings glinting in the chandelier's light and Jack's possessive expression cross the room.
"We'll find a time and place to put that puzzle together. So stay close," he whispered and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"Like I have a choice," she indicated at his hand on her hip. Jack was being all spy-kooky again but she didn't mind it one bit – all she knew was that in a few more minutes, she'd get to see one of her sisters and that was all she could really try to stomach at the moment.
So while they waited, the two swiftly moved around the beautifully lit room, mingling with older folk and having mild conversation and only giving their fake names Kat and Adrian when otherwise asked. Many of the men applauded Jack on his fabricated story of working international commerce, while the women cooed over Tooth's escort and joked about when their wedding would be. It was all so much to keep up with but each time they left a group, Jack would whisper to Tooth and they'd brief each other on what had just been said so they could repeat it across the hall. They didn't stay in one spot for too long, still on edge about their real reason for being at the hotel but the gala seemed to go on for hours.
After some light drinks and quick toasts to several announcements and presentations, Jack's mind began to drift, splitting three-ways as it usually did.
He focused on the gala, whilst the case's strange markings, and also mentally prepared himself for a fight to go down should all of this be an ambush. Every time he saw blue swirls or random brush strokes, he instantly went back to the rectangle pieces in the ELF case in the princess' purse. It also didn't help that every table had number tags, bringing back the 2's and 3's over and over again.
Jack exhaled through his nose sharply.
'What could the image be?' he kept barbing himself. 'Come on, Jack. You can think faster than this!'
What was worse, the part of his body that was connected to the wind element thanks to his center gene made him feel restless and tingly, always on alert for cold breezes.
Tooth shivered each time she felt his fingers flex or twitch slightly at her hip. As she floated around with her devilishly handsome partner, talked with guests, and eavesdropped on foreign conversations with her Incredibly Advanced Language Comprehension, she also kept going back to the case and the red spot on that one sheet.
'I know I've seen it before...but where?'
Suddenly, as they walked around a large table ready to start their circle back to the middle of the room, a waiter carrying a plate with condiments stumbled beside them and he nearly knocked into a Parisian diplomat. She jumped slightly and pulled back when some ketchup flew off one of the plates.
"Sacre bleu, monsieur!" she laughed lightly in French before she touched the waiter's arm hospitably and switched to English.
"Busy night for a Christmas, non?" And the Welshman chuckled.
"Oui mademoiselle," he said. "But I'm just clumsy too!"
Tooth suddenly froze.
Jack stopped. He looked at her with trepidation.
"Toothiana? What's wrong?"
But she didn't seem to hear him.
"Tatiana! *gasp* You idiot!"
"Theena, that's rude!"
"But Tia, she spilled it all over the table!"
"Sorry, I-I'm just clumsy, jeez!"
"Haha, BT! Look at what you just did t–"
"Ohh, Tooth! I'm so sorry! S-Sir! Can you come back and take another shot for us?!"
"Oh no, NO! Haha it's alright, Tiana! He doesn't have to."
"But Tooth, it's practically ruined!"
"No it's not! It's...perfect. Haha it'll be a perfect memory."
Tooth suddenly reached up and gripped his arm.
"Can we find a dark corner now?" she whispered and Jack pulled back slightly to give her an suspicious look.
"You're talking about the case, right?" he asked slowly.
"No shit, Sherlock!"
She then grabbed his hand nervously.
Jack wasn't one to flinch around her anymore having been so used to her kinesthetic nature...and he had grown to accept that he'd been starving for physical contact that wasn't in the form of a punch, roundhouse, or a headlock. But the way she clutched his cold hand made him tense slightly.
He quickly scanned the room for all the exits he memorized and after taking a steady inhale, he narrowed his eyes and tugged her.
"This way," he said under his breath.
...
Wales Christmas gala, empty hall, 3:34 am
In the outer halls, still as extravagant as the inside, Toothiana found an empty table and sat down at it while Jack sat across from her. As he gave the hall a vigilant glare, Tooth took out the case and the second she handed it him, he unlocked it. Then the two silently pulled out each rectangle and set them on the table.
Jack set straight to work on his advanced problem solving and began to calculate the integers of each rectangular size. Tooth tried her best to group the rectangles where blue lines and words seemed to form coherent matches and pushed them to the brunette as he twirled them in his fingers and lined them up. Soon, something was showing up the more Jack grouped and lined up the rectangles – an image or...was it a diagram?
Tooth bit her lip and stayed silent, marveling at how quick he really was. She realized then that Jack wasn't only street-smart, athletic, and a skilled driver, but also very mentally strong. It made her a little intimated, and sort of turned on before she wiped that thought immediately from her head. 'Oh my god, Tooth! NO! You two danced, nothing happened. Get over it and focus on your sisters!'
She tried to distract herself by looking for the rectangular piece that had the red splotch on it. When she found it near Jack's fingers, she reached over tentatively and slid it to her. Her dark brown eyes squinted as she looked at it.
It was growing more and more familiar. And her memories – the laughs, the cries, a hot summer air – came floating back into her head.
'I wonder...' she thought shakily and pushing her hair back, she leaned down and sniffed the rectangular piece of paper.
A strange, faint smell came from the spot, almost too small to miss.
She froze.
"Uh, Toothiana? What's–" but Jack stopped when a scared looked blossomed on her face.
"...'s'eet'illi..." she mumbled shakily.
"What?"
He leaned forward worriedly and she snapped her head up at him. After a moment, she looked back down at the rectangle and all its chicken scratch.
"Y-You never turned one over...did you?" she asked and as he shook his head, she shakily flipped the piece around with her tawny fingers.
'Please...please...don't be...' But it was.
The rectangle wasn't just a piece of paper...
It was a photo.
What met her was a shot of her and all her sisters when she'd come home two years earlier. They were all at the beach under a cabana and having lunch.
"That red spot..." she said unsteadily. "Tat spilled sweet Thai chili on it and I told her not to throw it out...b-because it was a memory I'd keep in my photo album."
Jack's eyebrows shot up and he gave her a worried look.
He quickly flipped over all the rectangles that he'd been placing and sure enough, each one was a photograph. There were probably twenty of them from different times and in relatively different styles – but they were all Tooth's and she knew right away they weren't copies.
"Th...th-these are all from my scrapbooks, m-my photo albums back at the palace...in my bedroom," she gasped as she found more and more pictures from her memories.
Jack said nothing, appalled and guilty for looking down at something that didn't publicly belong to him or anyone. They were the princess' personal photographs and he shouldn't be staring at them...but there they were.
He was pissed that he'd never even considered that from the way they felt was like film texture, not actual paper. When he came across an older group shot of Tooth and her 'new sisters' in what was most likely the palace, he glared up at her. Someone had also gone to lengths to draw a red circle around one of the handmaidens but he didn't recognize her as BT – she didn't have a beauty mark under her right eye.
"Why would North have these?" he growled and Tooth shook her head.
"I-I don't know!" she whispered fearfully. "But who went into my room?! And why'd they use my photos...a-as jigsaw puzzles?!"
After they'd confirmed that each rectangle was indeed a piece of her photo, Jack went quickly back to work and flipped them around for the markings to continue putting the image together. He knew Tooth wanted to grab them and run but he tried to console her that for whatever reason they were being used would be on the back once he'd finished aligning them right. The princess said nothing as her heart sat in her throat and her stomach churned on itself, terrible ice tingling all across her goosebumps.
Bit-by-bit, the pictures came together until finally, the thirty-or-so photos came together as one giant image. When they did, Jack's eyes widened and Tooth covered her mouth to hide her silent horror.
In one corner, someone had drawn a large sketch of a young girl who was curled in a fetal position. She didn't have any clothes on but she was drawn modestly and there was nothing inappropriate about the way she held herself. With her legs crossed and hands gripping her ankles, she looked like she was asleep.
She looked like one of Tooth's handmaidens and Tooth gasped.
"T...Ti..."
And she knew.
Tiana.
The rest of the rectangle was taken up by what looked like a diagram – what they ended up reading sent their blood running cold.
BABY TOOTH 03
Under it were all these strange stats on Tiana's biology – her pH levels, her blood count, hormone levels, etc. It was all so horrific and Tooth couldn't understand the more she kept reading and following drawn out arrows to strange number counts and chemical subscripts.
And at the bottom next to a recent date was a large script saying, LIKENESS: 54%
"I don't...Is this Ti's health records?"
'But how would North know?' she argued inwardly. 'Why would he even need to know about Tiana if he's only known me through–'
Tooth's breath hitched loudly in her throat as Jack glared to other parts of the image.
"Mannerisms," he read cautiously aloud. "Normal growth cycle, average mental clarity, h-heightened senses, sub-psychotic episodes of depression, high observational skills...sub-psychotic?"
At that, Tooth slammed her palms on the table, her gold bracelets jingling violently.
"What the hell is this?!" she exclaimed, sharing the same worried look he was. She grabbed the empty case in a blind swipe and clutched it desperately.
"W-Why is it saying all this stuff about Tiana?! How did they get my pictures? And w–"
Toothiana froze when she looked down at the case. Without all the pictures inside, she saw something engraved onto the inside of it.
01 – Tatiana, Siamese fireback (X)
02 – Tia, Redwing
03 – Tiana, European robin
04 – Tina, Motmot
05 – Tuhina, Barn swallow
06 – Tulia, Andean condor (X)
07 – Theena, Blue crane
08 – Tiati, Kiwi
She dropped the case on the table and Jack, now on high alert, stood up and read the inside of it. He then looked back at the diagram.
"Baby Tooth..." Jack repeated under his breath as he re-read the title.
That's when they both realised.
"The tooth Pitch wanted...it was this," Jack said with a dry throat. "This case because–"
"Tiana's a tooth," she finished. "Th-they all are, and I never even knew why until n..."
Jack glared away.
"And that's where they all went into hiding."
Tooth squeezed her eyes shut as wetness started to build in her tear ducts.
"B...B-Baby Tooth was just a nickname I-I came up with when Tatiana first met me. Have...has someone been using it for something else? These cases are holding unnecessary information about my sisters!"
"And I think...Pitch has one already," Jack mumbled as his eyes widened. It finally clicked when he saw the shape of the tooth box and remembered the dead ELF's pouch missing something the night he'd been murdered. This was what had been hiding it, what he'd meant to bring to Tooth's prime minister for Mr. Sanderson.
Toothiana's head shot up.
"W...What?" she hissed and Jack bit the inside of his cheek as he frowned. He looked her in the eye.
"That's why your first handmaiden was kidnapped. I know now...North said his ELF was supposed to bring one of these to Minister Bangkot at a conference four weeks ago, for your nanny, but he never made it because I watched a Nightmare ambus–"
A second later, Tooth's chair screeched out from under her and moved away from Jack.
"All this time, growing up, I..." she began and a cold anger started to boil in her blood. "My sisters and I..." She brought a fist to her mouth to stop a choke from coming out.
"I-I don't understand! They're not doctors so why do they need her–their bio stats? I didn't even kn...My prime minister...m-my nanny?!"
Jack moved around the table and put out his hands to grab her jittery form but when his cold fingers brushed her shoulders, she looked up.
"Is Mr. Sanderson apart of the GUARDIAN program?" she clipped.
"What–"
"While I was asleep," she interrupted. "You and North talked, didn't you? So is he?"
Jack opened his mouth and tried to move again but she pushed his arms away.
"So it's true?!" she spat. "North, Phil, my private tutor...Th-They were all weird agents from the company you were a part of. From the GUARDIAN program."
She bit out the last part like acid and clutched her hands at her head.
"Wait no, Toothiana," Jack tried to argue quickly. "You don't know what you're saying. North, he...he's a man leading a war against global terrorism and pro–"
"Spying on little girls he has no right to!" she hissed feeling sick. "I-I...I trusted him! Him and M-Mr. Sandy–"
She cut out when her breathing got rapid and she quickly tried to busy herself by putting all the photos back into the case.
"N-No one else knew about these," she mumbled darkly, filing each piece away as if they'd also been ripped out of her heart. "No one knew but me, m-my sisters, my prime minister, and my tutor...Oh god, Mr. Bangkot's in on it too i-isn't he?"
Jack tried to grab for her hand.
"Toothia–"
She quickly dived around him and after she shut the case, Tooth held it to her chest and spun to face him. His eyes watched as her fury twisted with cold despair and bitterness.
"They were all from Project GUARDIAN..." she mumbled with a light sheen of tears over her brown contacts. "Just like you were..."
Her last words drove a spike into Jack's chest.
"T...Toothiana, no."
And her name on his lips made her squeeze her eyes shut because god forbid, she knew she couldn't hate him – she never would, not after what they'd been through. But all these questions kept piling and he was at the center, a part of it now, and that terrified her. Toothiana really tried to believe he was good, she still did. But–
From the shock, she brought her knuckle to her mouth in frustration and began to back away from the table.
Each step seemed to drive a nail further into Jack's heart as he stood there numb and for once, uncertain. He was desperate to move but...the cold creeping through him came back.
Was she really–
"You could've been involved in whatever this disaster is and just haven't remembered yet!" she exclaimed her heart aching from the sight of his face. She didn't want to say the awful words but they spewed forth with her emotions all a mess. "A-And now thanks to you, North, and whoever else's been spying on my sisters and I, Pitch got to one of them!"
"But Too–"
"Did you not see the scratch marks?!" she cried. All the warmth in her heart for him at the moment – all the memories, the jokes, the hope – were clinging on desperately like candle flame caught in a strong breeze.
"Tatiana an'...a-and Tulia are crossed off! How do I know Tulia's...and th-that he hasn't already found another case? My sisters, my sisters–"
'Don't cry! Princesses d...princesses, they don't...'
She turned and instead of showing him her emotions, Tooth tried to bolt away from him again.
His eyes widened and he lifted a hand ready to chase her.
"Toothiana!"
But he got no response as she kept running.
At the end of the hall, a dark figure blocked her path and Tooth screeched to a halt. An ELF disguised as a bodyguard looked down at her somberly after he gave Jack a suspicious glare.
"Your grace," he mumbled, "your handmaiden and her ELF have arrived."
She blinked up at him, no longer feeling safe around him or any of the men she once called her protectors, but gripped the tooth box tight.
"A...Please take me to her," she said tightly and when Jack approached, she kept her head looking forward.
Her emotionless face made the ice that usually crept around Jack's spirit grow exponentially.
"Toothiana..." Jack started with a hard expression but she completely ignored him and walked forward, silent and still shellshocked.
...
Wales hotel penthouse, 3:56 am
The ELF led them to a back lobby, used by private guests. Once there, several more ELFs formed a group behind them and they all headed to the elevators. As they walked, the men surrounded the princess and she bit her lip and wrapped her light-pink shawl around her arms. Jack watched her squeeze her eyes shut and move away from an ELF too close to her and when he was no longer within arm's reach, Tooth popped two sticks of mint gum into her mouth.
He frowned – she was chewing them so tightly, he was certain her beautiful teeth would fall out.
Minutes later, they got to the penthouse suite with a ding to the final floor. The large elevator opened and all nine stepped out silently onto the grand foyer of the penthouse. When the ELFs moved apart for Jack and Tooth, another one already inside came out to greet them.
"Merry Christmas, your highness," he said in a light, British accent and bowed to her gracefully. "You are–"
"Where is she?" she bit out briskly with an impatient frown and Jack turned to look at her worriedly. While she looked beautiful in her full party clothes, her expression was cracked and disturbed and he caught her fist tightening around her clutch purse.
The ELF frowned slightly before he composed himself and nodded.
"This way princess," he said curtly and led them across the foyer and into a larger living room. With each click of Tooth's heels and chomp of her gum, her heart beat wildly – as did Jack's as he moved in closer to her, trying not to care that she didn't trust (or like) him at the moment.
Click!
The second they were inside the room and two ELFs shut the door behind them, Tooth instantly broke into a run.
She saw someone she hadn't seen in days and unlike being away for school for months, the sight of her face made the emotion nearly ten-thousand what Tooth normally felt. She let out a choked sob when Tiana met her halfway and nearly collapsed from the familiar contact.
"Ti...Oh my god, Tiana!" she cried as the little Thai girl wrapped her tinier form around Tooth's dress and cried out.
Jack's mouth fell slightly open at the near-identical handmaiden. She was dressed in turquoise and her hair was in a side ponytail, but it was scary – she really looked like Toothiana.
'How...How are they not related?'
He almost dared to call her a 'mini-Tooth' but it was too close to the name that had already been given to her in the case and that disturbed him.
"T-Toothie! Ar-are you okay?!" Tiana cried. "Everyo-Ev'ry...W-We thought you were gone!"
"I was kidnapped, Ti! I'm so sorry, I-I'm sorry!"
"So it was true?! T-They said you were hiding like us but I...we..."
The thirteen-year-old then knelt on the floor. Tooth followed to hold her against her and they both eyes squeezed shut, mumbling under their breaths. Jack and the other ELFs in the room looked on silently.
"W-Wait!" Tiana hiccupped and Tooth pulled away.
"What is it?" Tooth whispered, willing to do anything for her younger sister. The teen lifted her crossed hands and did a motion that Toothiana instantly understood.
She nodded weakly and joined her crossed hands with the girl's.
"W-Wings up," Tooth mumbled and the two girls bravely motioned their fingers into two sets of wings between them – a reminder to both that their sisterhood was still strong. When they hands touched, Tiana dropped her hands and quickly clung to Tooth.
"I-I'm scared, Toothie! When you and Baby v-vanished, we all had to...had to–did you know about the h-hidden tun–the tunnels in the palace sanctuary? Behind the mural?"
Tooth froze.
"B...Behind the mural?"
She remembered her dream from the first night she'd been with Jack, back in the motel.
"I...I–"
"A-And I keep hearing things about Nightma'rs...And wh-what did you do to your ha-hair?! AND TU–!...Tu–I..."
"Shh, shh," the princess shushed her sister and cupped her cheeks.
Tooth was on the verge of crying again. She had never seen her handmaiden, who only ever had to worry about perfecting her English and fixing bedsheets, become so distraught. It broke her heart, and when her sisters were distraught, Tooth did what she did best.
"Come here," she whispered and after she ran a hand through Tiana's dark hair, she began to sing.
"Y-You are my sunshine...My only su-sunshine..."
And Jack froze, his eyes glued to Tooth's strong expression. She needed to be – especially since Tiana was the most emotional of her eight sisters.
"You make me happy, wh-when skies are grey..."
His brown eyes widened suddenly as she wiped away her sister's tears.
"You'll nev'r know d-dear how much I love you..." Tiana tried to smile–
"So please don't take my sunshine away...Haha again, Jack! Jack?...JACK!"
Only one ELF behind Jack caught Jack's slight jump in his skin. He glared slightly when he watched the skinnier man start to rub his eye. No one else seemed to notice Jack's apparent pain.
"Stay with me, Toothie!" Tiana mumbled. "W-Wait with me until the others arrive!"
"A..." Tooth hesitated just the slightest, thinking briefly about Jack before she pushed his dark form out of her mind, still feeling hurt. She shut her eyes and put her forehead to her younger sister's.
"No, nong (little sister)...we need to leave, you and I!" she whispered. "As long as we're together, nothing ca–"
"Your highness?"
Tooth stopped and looked up at the new voice. An ELF in his red uniform, still flushed from being outside in the cold minutes ago, was leaning down slightly.
"I-I'm the ELF that brought her here," he said in a Greek accent. "Please, I need the case North gave you."
Tooth squinted up at him thoughtfully. But he suddenly jumped away when she gasped.
"The case...He wants the case!"
"I...I-I–No, no!" she cried and pulled Tiana closer to her. He raised his eyebrows under his red-pointed hood.
"But pr–"
A second later, someone in the back room came out into the living room.
"Tiana?"
At the sound of the door shutting, Tiana pulled away and looked up behind her.
A man in a black suit she knew very well appeared in the living room.
"Mr. Ty!" Tiana called back grateful to see another familiar face again. The Prime Minister of Punjam Hy Loo, Mr. Ty Bangkot, saw the two girls on the floor and instantly moved across the carpet to them.
"Toothiana!" he cried almost in tears.
"M-Minister Ty? You're here?!" she blinked behind her pink eyeshadow and he nodded.
"For Ti's extra protection. Thank god you're alright!"
But as Tiana smiled and moved up to stand, everyone was surprised when Tooth sprung up and wrapped an arm around Tiana and moved her sister behind her.
"Toothiana, I–"
"STAY BACK!"
A second later, she withdrew her gun from under her dress and aimed it at the floor around his feet.
Tiana screamed.
The other ELFs reacted instantly, lifting their hands cautiously over their guns and Jack looked at them all before he landed his worried gaze on their princess.
"Toothiana?" he said loud and took a step forward.
"Wh–?!" Minister Ty choked out and his face grew pale. "Princess–"
"Don't come closer! Any of you!" Tooth cried and her anger quickly morphed into desperation as she heard voices...her sister's voices from her dreams.
"Where am I?...Where am I?!"
"You lied to me! All these years, you and Mr. Sandy lied to me!"
Tooth wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to vomit and run away all at once. All she could think about was Tiana's sketch and the awful bio stats scratched on all her old photos. But everyone's voices pleading with her to calm down weren't helping.
"Your highness!"
"Careful men, she's armed!"
"Toothiana, put it down!"
"Princess! CALM DOWN!"
"W-Why d-d'you have that, Toothie?" Tiana choked and her high voice made Toothiana grit her teeth in frustration. "Why do you have a gun?!"
"Where're my sisters...Wh...Where is Tooth?!"
She suddenly remembered Jack's instructions and pulled the gun up tightly against her torso and held it in one hand with a slightly bent arm. His brown eyes widened when he recognized her position.
It was a perfect stance, but he knew her mind wasn't in it and that was dangerous.
"Toothiana!" Jack cried again and lifted a hand to her. She eyed him quickly as her gaze grew blurry.
"NO!" Tiana screamed and grabbed fistfuls of her hair. "This isn't like you, Phi (older sister)! What happened to you?!"
Tooth frowned trying to block out the noise whilst trying to find Tiana's voice. But as her head clouded with fear and she couldn't, her gaze landed on Minister Ty again and her teeth clenched together.
"I want to go home...I WANT GO H-HOME!"
She clicked her safety off the second he understood. Her oldest bodyguard lifted his hands.
"Princess! No!"
"Toothie, STOP!" Tiana finally screamed. "STOP IT!"
Tooth reacted at the shriek.
Taking the opportunity, Jack swooped in and twisted her wrist down. She cried out painfully and her grip instantly reacted against the trigger. It went off at a nearby wall and exploded a vase. The shards got one ELF in the cheek but Jack was able to pull the rest of the rifle out of her hand.
After he quickly clicked the safety off and put it in his belt, Toothiana choked back a terrified gasp. Jack gripped her arm.
"Oh my god..." she choked and turned the ELF who'd gotten hurt.
Tiana took a step back, looking horrified.
"I...I-I don't know you anymore, Toothie...Wh-Who are you?" the handmaiden whimpered but the princess shook her head as she kept looking between her sister and the bleeding ELF.
"But I didn't m...No, I...Oh my god, I-I'm so sorry! Are you..." Tooth covered her mouth, ashamed at her sudden behaviour.
Jack looked down at her sternly before he surveyed around the room. Several agents composed themselves and went to help their hit comrade as Prime Minister Bangkot stood shaking on his knees. Everyone's mouth was clamped shut, afraid to set her off again and all Toothiana did was gasp in heavy pants, trying to catch her racing heart.
Tiana's ELF guard walked back over to Ty and told him that she had the case but wouldn't give it to him – but Tooth heard and instantly reacted. With a sob, she quickly reached into her purse and pulled it out.
"Is this what you want?!" she spat at the ELF. Everyone in the room jumped but the princess failed to see as she watched the ELF and Minister Ty's face pale in similar comparison.
She widened her eyes.
"So I was right...You knew, y-you knew about this case?" she seethed and shoved it out for nearly everyone to see.
Jack said nothing as he gave the taller, older man a stony look – he didn't know anything about the minister and with the way Tooth had reacted upon first sight of him, he grew wary of his loyalties...even though the man looked like he was genuinely begging her to understand.
"Toothie, please! We–"
"Do you know what's inside it?! This is holding all the things that belonged to me, my memories...a-and they've been corrupted!" she exclaimed and Tiana stepped away with a nervous look on her face. But Tooth didn't stop as the anger kept washing over her.
"Why did Nicolas St. North, someone who I've never met until tonight, have this, all my pictures?! TELL ME!"
"Tooth..." Tiana tried to speak up timidly but the princess didn't hear her.
The Prime Minister of Punjam Hy Loo looked at the three of them for a long time before he sighed heavily. After he ran a hand through his greying hair, he turned to Tiana's ELF and told him to give them several minutes – this was the part he knew that would one day come, and he was as afraid as the first day he'd been sworn in to this secret.
"Bring the case," he said softly and beckoned the three into the back-living room. "I...I think it's time."
"Come Tooth, please," Tiana urged and shakily moved forward to grab the princess' hand. Now that the princess' handsome friend had taken away the gun, Tiana wasn't so terrified of her big sister anymore. She tugged on Toothiana's hand and the princess gripped it like a lifeline.
Tooth shot Jack a blank stare and despite how upset he knew she was with him still, he nodded his head and followed beside her protectively.
...
4:13 am
The ELFs stayed outside and went about their other duties as Prime Minister Bangkot led them into a smaller, still as elegant sitting room, used for awaiting guests. When he shut the door, Jack's hard expression immediately fell into a calmer one. He crossed his arms.
"Care to start talking?" he snipped and Minister Ty eyed him suspiciously.
"Young man, who are you?" he asked tensely. "Are you the reason my princess almost put a bullet through my head?"
But Toothiana stepped forward.
"No, he's been protecting me," she defended him. "And he's been doing a pretty damn good job since you left me for Pitch!"
Ty's mouth fell open and his face grew paler.
"I didn't...I did not leave for you Pitch."
"No, no you didn't," she shook her head vehemently as her eyes grew wet. "B-But thanks to you and whatever this case means, I-I left Tat behind!"
And Tiana gasped as Tooth shut her eyes shamefully.
"I didn't even know she was there and I...I left her behind!" the princess cried. "All because she, Ti, a-and the rest of them, are part of something I didn't know about...that Pitch knew. That you knew!"
"You...You know... but I was sup–"
He tried to continued but the thought was too terrible and he ended up rubbing his eyes with his hands instead, as he did when he was lost.
"M-Minister?" Tiana said nervously. She had never seen the man so lost for words. Minister Ty was always a strong, firm man and the whole time since he'd arrived, he was nothing but careful and hopeful as he made sure she was close to him, as did the kind ELF who led her through the tunnels and tried to make her smile.
Yet Tooth was merciless and clutched Tiana's hand desperately as the sight of their uncle distorted against her will. He looked like a stranger and she felt alone again, like the day her father stopped coming home.
"Where were you after that TV announcement?" she cried shakily. "Why didn't you come?"
"But Toothiana!" he cried and dropped his hands to show his bloodshot eyes. He very much wanted to move to her but he knew she was untouchable at the moment.
"W-We sent out royal guards by the hundreds! But Pitch Black...he–"
"And T-Tat was kidnapped," she heaved and took a step forward. "For what reason can you explain for sending all my handmaidens into the ground and for why Mr. Sandy went back to the States?"
"It was for their protection," he exclaimed. "As much as it was for yours."
"But why?! They're only little girls, Mr. Bangkot!" she brought her hand to her forehead with the case still clutched in her fingers. As she felt Tiana squeeze her hand, all her memories of them growing up played in her head – the reunions, the trips around the island, the slumber parties...
"I-It's very nice to meet you, Pr-Princess Toof!...Thank you um, Tia. But you can just call me, Tooth – like these!"
"You can't catch me, Theena!...Yes, I can!...Oof! Hey, no fair!...HAHA DOG PILE ON THE PRINCESS!–TATIANA!"
"Tulia, stop it!–No you stop it, Tiana!...Girls!...Eep!...Remember ladies, when she's back, she's in charge!"
"Oh my gosh, I miss you guys!...Uh bup bup! What do you we do?...Wings up, ladies!...We missed you too!"
"Make a wish Tiati...Why?...So when I have to leave again, you can look at the stars and think of me...Okay, Toothie..."
Toothiana shut her eyes.
"Th-they're not royal like me, Mr. Bangkot, t-they were just chosen from the villages...So w-why didn't you just send them home?!"
"Toothie..." he said and after some thought, he bravely took a step forward. Tooth didn't move and tried to plant her feet to the ground as he drew near. When he was within arm's reach, he cautiously reached out his hand and took hers, the one holding the case against her forehead.
He grasped it gently and held her for a moment, trying to remind her of their earlier bond before all of this occurred.
Tooth looked up at him with a deep breath.
After a moment, she surrendered herself and let her grip on the case loosen and he pulled it out of her hold. Jack's eyes widened but when he opened his mouth, the Prime Minister moved in and hugged her around the shoulders.
His mouth became a tight line as he watched Tiana also move in to hold her from behind until Tooth weakly lifted her hands to clutch his arms. And between to the two of them, he saw...this was the family she came from, where her love for everything originated, and he couldn't say a word.
Tooth shut her eyes and breathed in his familiar black suit – it smelled of peppermint and a picture of her castle came swimming forward to the front of her mind.
She sighed shakily as her uncle shut his eyes.
"Princess...you have always been protected, since the day you were born. It has been your birthright," Minister Ty said slowly and prepared himself for the confession. After he shut his eyes briefly, he pulled away from her and looked her in the eye.
"But the girls...they do not have homes...on the island."
And Tooth delicately rubbed under her eye so as to not smudge her makeup – but the dread had already pooled into her stomach.
"W-What?"
"It is why they live with you. They always have because...we are protecting them too."
"B-But...I...I thought they..." she stuttered and shook tried to shake her head. "No, no, they were chosen from different famil–"
"No, Toothie. That was a lie, they don't have any families."
Something in Jack's nerves spiked suddenly and his throat grew dry.
"So they're...they're orphans?" Jack mumbled softly and the prime minister closed his eyes at Jack's question.
"No...th'r..." he sighed stressfully and when he opened them, Tooth's brown, pleading eyes resigned him.
He finally confessed what had long been kept from her.
"The girls...they're...they are copies."
Tooth dropped her hands from his arms.
"C-Copies..." she repeated. "Copies of what?"
And Minister Ty pulled away and but kept his hands on her shoulders.
"Copies of...of you."
Jack's mind stopped, all his guesses flown out the window.
"W...Wh–"
"Each of your handmaidens...like Tiana," Minister Ty continued, "is a copy of you. She...she was an experiment created by a program once called...Project GUARDIAN."
"The guar...the guardia..."
"It was thirteen years ago an'...a-and it's true. She is a ph's...ph-physical copy matched to you."
Tooth's mouth fell open and Jack felt something like metal twist in his chest from her expression – she looked angry, shocked, sick, alone and horribly terrified.
"N-No..." Tooth tried to laugh weakly, trying to cover up the anxiety with humor like she always did. "You're joking...you're joking!
"No princess," he pressed slowly and guiltily. "I swear on your father's headstone th–"
"Don't you talk about my father!" she choked and the look on her face broke his old and battered heart.
"You're saying sh-she's what a...a c-clone?! Mr. Ty, you're sick! Cloning isn't real, it doesn't exist in the real world it–...S-Stop lying!"
"No, princess I am not!"
"STOP LYING!"
But as Tooth tried to come up with powerful arguments and accusations in her head, she felt Tiana slip out of her other hand. She looked down and watched the thirteen-year-old move around her to Minister Bangkot.
"Tiana, no! TIANA! Don't go near h–" But she stopped when she saw the sad look on Tiana's face as she backed away.
"Tiana, come here! Please Ti...Tiana?"
Tooth tried again with outstretched hands to the little girl but she shook her head and as Tooth looked at her – as in, really looked at her – she saw it, feeling her chest tighten with a thick, invisible rope.
The handmaiden's eyes, her nose, her hair, her shape...and after all these years, the 'it's-only-a-coincidence' and 'we're-just-lucky-i-guess' went away. Although she was much tinier than Tooth, the princess finally saw it...the likeness that she'd been pretending that wasn't weird for years.
"Y-You knew?...Y...Y-You ALL knew?!"
The princess covered her mouth and Tiana nodded her head, her tears threatening to boil over and hurt her dear, older sister more.
"W-We're so sorry, Too–...princess," she mumbled, using Toothiana's title for more emphasis. She wiped big, wet tears from her cheeks as she hiccupped the rest of the words.
"W-We never nev'r wanted t–to keep it fr-from you a-an' they t-told us not t'tell you...bu-but how could we? W-We weren't nor...*sob* n-normal...and each of us w' woke up in str–"
Tooth took a step back and Tiana looked up at her in self-torture.
"W-We're awful, Toothie. A...Awful! We-W'...I'm so sorry!"
Toothiana felt like a piece of her had shriveled up – the part Tiana filled with such honesty and love. She tried to cling to it desperately but the sketch of Ti sleeping in a fetal position continued to cloud her mind.
"T...Tiana..."
"W-What the hell?" Jack breathed and even he took a tiny step back. "You knew...you know about Project GUARDIAN?"
And the prime minister nodded his head solemnly, afraid that North had told them more than he could tell himself.
He sighed and looked down at the case in his hand and squeezed it almost angrily. Tiana put a hand on his arm worriedly.
"I wish..." he mumbled loudly.
"Oh, Toothie I wish you had not been a part of this but you're...y–"
Something like a crack went off from one of the windows...and a bullet shot the Prime Minister straight in the head.
Tiana screamed when the blood hit her face.
"MR. TY!" Tooth screamed.
But when she tried to move to Tiana as their beloved uncle crumpled into himself on the carpet, the portion of another window shattered from across the room and a weird sound was heard.
Jack spun quicker than the two and caught the black object bouncing near them on the carpet.
When it stopped near a coffee table, his heart dropped.
"TOOTHIANA!"
He rushed forward and grabbed Tooth around the waist and spun her so that his body became a shield, but as he tried to reach for Tiana next–
The grenade went off in a loud BANG and a gigantic fire exploded.
It engulfed everything in a bright flash of white then a red-orange heat and black smoke followed. The shockwave sent Jack and Tooth off their feet, slamming them front-first into a wall where the beautiful wallpaper was immediately scorched by the flames.
Tooth coughed out the air in her lungs violently and Jack's hold on her instantly fell as his head began to sear in pain. A high-pitched ringing blurred his vision and weakened his dexterity as he went to clutch his head.
It was shellshock and tinnitus all in one since he'd forgotten to put on his earplugs after they changed back in Rome.
'Argh, h-how could I be so stupid?!'
Tooth meanwhile gasped sporadically and tried lifting herself off the parts of the wall that weren't hot.
"Ti-'na! TI...T-TIANA!?" she screamed and spun around, squinting her dizzying eyes through the black smoke as it got thicker. There was no sign of her little sister anywhere.
"TIANA!"
Tooth took a few steps forward around Jack and twisted her head, this way and that. She used her ears against the crackling and pops of the fire, but all she heard was the cries of the ELFs in the other room who sounded like they were at war, and the laboured pants of herself and Jack's grunts of pain.
Was it an ambush? An attack by Nightmares?! Neither Jack or Tooth could tell the growing darkness!
"Aieeeee!"
Tooth froze for a millisecond before she rushed forward and tried to navigate the impossibly thick smoke. It got hard to breathe as she stepped further in.
"O-Oh god...no! Please!"
Tooth lifted the part of her skirt where the slit hid her gun and tried to reach for the rifle – but it wasn't there!
"Where is...NO!" Tooth coughed and spun to look for Jack in the dark, suffocating smoke. He had taken her gun before they entered the room!
Lungs burning with ash and charcoal, Tooth wiped her eyes of stinging tears but the more desperate she became, the more oxygen she began to lose.
"WHERE ARE YOU, T!? A-ANSWER ME!"
Pitch's arch-level Nightmare circled the cloud cover in his gas mask, yellow goggles set to block out the heat and light as he searched the smoke for the princess. When he came across a girl's form in a dress, he swooped in and grabbed her.
"I-I'm–NO! HELP! T–Mfhmm! MFHMM!"
There was alot of fighting and scuffling heard and fire crackling from split furniture around the two bodies but by the time Tooth got to the spot where the sounds had come from, a shred of Tiana's dress was left burning on the floor and she was nowhere to be seen.
Along with the case and all of Tiana's information in it.
And Tooth screamed.
"TIANAA!"
Chapter's soundtrack: "Vesper's Theme" (007: Casino Royale) – David Arnold You didn't think I'd miss a chance to throw in a beautiful James Bond track did you?