Chapter 5

Hey guys! Moving right now, so it'll be slow. Glad to be back!~ Thanks for reading!

"Jack? JACK! Look out behind you!" Jamie screamed to warn his friend, but it fell to unhearing ears. He was stunned as he watched his best friend being swallowed by a wall of darkness. As the darkness fell on Jack, Jamie found himself alone in the dark. He put his hand out to see if there was anything to touch or grab a hold of. After a couple seconds of hesitation, the child felt an urge to move forward and decided to follow. It felt like he walked for hours. There was nothing but darkness in front of him. Or could he be blind? He paused and rubbed his eyes. There were tiny pieces of something rough on his cheeks. It felt like...sand? Maybe this was all a dream. But if this was a dream...the Sandman would never give Jamie such an awful dream. That could only mean one thing...that Pitch was back!

His heart started pounding, wanting to break out from his chest. As the realization grew, his surroundings began to change. A dim light lit the area around him, revealing horrifying sights. There were black shadows rising up from the ground. They had long bodies and arms with jagged stick like fingers. As Jamie looked at one of the shadows, it lifted its head. The face was blank. The shadow noticed the outsider and began to drift over. As it came closer, the shadow's head grew longer and a mouth started to form. The mouth opened. Instead of a normal mouth, it was a hole that went right through the shadow's head. Shadows of sharp teeth began to form. The deep, empty sockets that held no eyes now glowed a dull red. Jamie stumbled back as the shadow suddenly jumped at him. The others that surrounded soon followed.
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Jamie cried out in his sleep, raising his arms up to cover and protect his face. He groaned and grunted as he tried to keep his invisible attacker away. This only brought more joy to the Nightmare King. His grin widened as he let out a low cackle. "Ah, yes! The sounds I have been longing to hear for these past few years." His dark eyes drifted over to the young boy. "And I thought you said you weren't afraid of me! Stupid boy!" Pitch went over to Jamie's side and knelt down. His slender fingers wrapped tightly under Jamie's chin as he leaned in close, his lips hovered over the child's ear as he whispered. "Don't worry...you're almost free from this. We just need one person to understand that if he doesn't cooperate with my demands, there will be even more for you to fear." With a rough push, he released Jamie's chin and let the child fall back to the ground. Pitch tossed his head back and laughed, pleased with his plan so far.

"Pitch!" Jack shouted as loud as he could. He could not hear anything after that terrible laugh except for his voice echoing in the darkness that surrounded him. He wasn't sure where he was, but he knew he was not where he was before. His bare feet felt out the surface beneath him. Instead of soft grass, he felt damp, cold stone. This place was all too familiar to Jack. He had been here once before a long time ago...it was a moment he regretted at the time and still did to this day. He was underground in Pitch's lair.

It took him a moment to steady himself. Jack had never wanted to return here ever again. It brought back painful memories. Memories of his past, memories of almost losing the only friends he had, memories of his friends losing trust in him, memories of being invisible to the children that brought him so much joy. His head swirled in pain, causing him to drop to his knees. He could feel his heart pounding chest and hear his breathing coming out rough and shaky. But that all disappeared when his ears picked up a familiar voice. The voice boomed and echoed throughout the cave. The walls shook, amplifying the cry. It sent chills throughout Jack's entire body. It was Jamie! How….WHY was he down here?

Jack immediately thought about the black sand he had spotted on Jamie's mother and sister. He had hoped that it wasn't who he thought it was. But now there was just too much evidence pointing to the obvious. Pitch was back. How, Jack didn't know. But why?

It wasn't time to ask questions, Jack's body immediately jumped up and into action. He needed to find out which direction Jamie's cry came from. But before he could take a single step, he felt something tug at his sleeve. He turned his head to try and see what it was. But of course he could see nothing. Then, there was a hand grabbing at his ankle. Then another grabbing his arm. Then another grabbing his shoulder. As he tried to fight off the invisible hands, more came from the darkness and began pulling him back. The Guardian gripped his staff tightly and tried to get a spell to go off. All he managed to make was a small frost spark that gave him enough light to get a glimpse of what was happening. There were hundreds of hands make of black sand. They came from the walls beside him, above him, below him. Again he struggled to pull forward but the force was just too strong. He felt his feet slip beneath him as he was being pulled back.

Jack's head hit a hard surface, causing him to wince in pain. The hands continued to drag him backwards. He still wasn't able to see anything but black surrounding him. Again, his back hit a hard surface. He bit his lip and groaned. It felt like he was being pulled right through walls of stone. After several minutes of this, he felt the hands release him. But there was a problem with that, he couldn't feel a surface below his feet. Jack really wished the wind was able to catch him, but that wasn't happening this time.

The Guardian fell for quite some time before landing. He somehow managed to lessen the impact of the fall, but in doing so, he injured his shoulder. Jack hit the ground and tumbled forward. He came to rest on his chest, feeling the dampness against his cheek. He felt a twinge of pain come back to his head and his back. This caused him to dip in and out of consciousness. With his eyes tightly closed, he had to rely on his hearing to figure out where he was now. He could hear grunting and groaning. It sounded close to him, yet far at the same time. And there was that cry again from earlier. It rang in Jack's head, causing a large surge of pain. "Jamie!" Jack cried out as he scrambled to his feet. He opened his eyes slowly and winced as light blinded him for a few moments. The pain sent his head spinning. He was thrown off balance, but managed to stay on his feet. His eyes finally began to adjust to the minimal light that lit up the dark cave. There, just feet in front of him, was Jamie.

The winter spirit gathered all of his energy and rushed over to the child. But before he could reach Jamie, a wave of hands rushed towards Jack, hitting him with a strong force. The hands threw up against a wall and pressed hard against his neck. He managed to hold onto his staff and at the right moment, Jack mustered up all of the strength he had inside of him. He let out a war cry and managed to push the hands away from him with a blast of frost from his staff. He fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath. He coughed and gasped as he quickly got to his feet once again. He rushed over to Jamie's side. His eyes scanned over the boy, making sure nothing had happened to him. There were no serious wounds, just some tiny scrapes and…..black sand. It was the same he had seen at Jamie's house...but there was a lot more of it dusted over his eyes.

Jamie winced and his body jolted. Jack quickly knelt down at Jamie's side and placed his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Jamie. Jamie!" He shook the boy gently. "You can wake up now! I'm here. Everything will be alright. Just wake up!" Jack began to panic when he received no response from Jamie. Just small whines and low sobbing.

"Ah! Well if it isn't the little winter sprite. You've come to the aid the brat…" Jack reacted to the Nightmare King's voice but was met with a foot impacting his cheek. Before he could make a move, Pitch had knocked Jack to the ground and was now putting all of his weight on Jack's head. The Guardian cried out in pain as the pain in his shoulder flared up again. "Those cries! I've been longing to hear those. I've thirsted for them ever since that day...I'll be sure to get more out of you…" Pitch lifted his foot and then drove his foot right into Jack's side. The impact sent Jack sliding a few inches. His head came to rest on a jagged rock. "Ahh!" Jack writhed in pain, grabbing his head. The Nightmare King swooped down to Jack's side and grabbed a handful of silvery-white hair. He jerked Jack's head back. Bright blue eyes met his dark yellow ones. "Now...let's have a little talk, shall we?"