Chapter 17: A Bloody Punishment

WARNING: This chapter is an exception to the rest of the story. It is likely to be M-rated for extreme violence. To those of you of a sensitive nature DO NOT READ, but wait until the next chapter is posted.

You have been warned.

In which there is horror, violence and vast amounts of blood.

The world was dark and cold. There were thick weights on his wrists. A creeping fear wound through his gut. A gentle drip of water sounded in the distance. Though he couldn't see anything, Jack could somehow feel that something was moving just out of reach.

The darkness lifted, just a little. Jack could now see himself. He was bound in thick manacles made of lead. His wrists were already severely galled. Jack looked to his left. Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel were there. Hiccup was lying on the floor, still sobbing his heart out. Rapunzel was trying to comfort him.

Out of the shadows swept Pitch. Jack turned to him, ready to give him the sharp side of his tongue, but the sight of Pitch stopped him in his tracks. Pitch had changed. He was far taller, thinner and infinitely more terrifyingly. The shadows on his face were blacker than ever. His flesh was deathly grey and his needle-sharp teeth were shining in the gloom.

His eyes...

Jack couldn't look at them. The pupils were black. Truly black. It wasn't a colour. It was an abyss. Like you were looking into the depths of deepest space.

Pitch's purple-grey tongue lashed across his teeth and lips. 'I think it's time I showed you exactly what I am capable of.' Pitch raised his talon-like hands. Thin lines of black sand snaked across the ground. They wrapped themselves around each of the Big Four, dragged them apart and threw them into metal cells.

'Tick Tock Goes The Clock...' Pitch whispered to himself. Behind him, the shadows grew blacker.

Rapunzel's Punishment

Rapunzel sat crouched in the corner of the room. 'Be brave,' she said to herself. She breathed gently with her eyes closed. Fearlings prowled the edge of the cell, watching the figure of the girl with the golden hair. They eyed her closely. They could hear her thoughts and sense her fears.

With a metallic clang, the door opened and Pitch swept in. The Fearlings dissolved into the shadows. Only tiny, pinpoints of light that were their eyes could be seen of them. Rapunzel opened her green eyes. She looked at Pitch in the calm way that that a princess spends so much time rehearsing. Pitch smiled, showing his newly needle-sharpened teeth.

Rapunzel frowned at him. 'I would like to know exactly what you want with us.' Pitch brought himself down to Rapunzel's eyes level. Rapunzel found herself staring into the pure fear of two black holes. They seemed to be sucking out her very soul. 'I believe you and your friends are challenging my rise to power,' he hissed, 'And unless you withdraw at once, I will have to take... measures.' It was only one word, "Measures", but it seemed far more threatening even than a pack of rabid wolves.

Pitch opened his palm. A hundred threads of nightmare sand ran around his hand and then congealed. A small hand plane formed in the palm of his hand. Pitch flicked the blade. It clanged forebodingly. He put it to Rapunzel's scalp. 'I am going to ask you a question: what are you doing with those three?' His eyes glinted. 'I'll tell you nothing,' Rapunzel snapped at him.

Pitch smiled. His left eye twitched. 'I'll give you this warning.' Pitch pressed the plane to Rapunzel's hairline and pushed forwards half an inch. Rapunzel shrieked as the blade cut into her flesh. Blood trickled down her face as her skin peeled away from her skull, taking her hair with it. Pitch stopped forcing the blade into Rapunzel's flesh.

It took a fair amount of time for Rapunzel to get over the original pain and regain her voice. 'I give you one last chance,' Pitch said threateningly, 'What Are You Doing With Jack Frost? Through tear-streaked eyes, Rapunzel glared at Pitch. 'Never,' she half-gasped, half-growled. Pitch sighed. 'Very well then,' he said, his voice dangerously smooth and calm, 'On your own head... be it.'

The plane slashed across Rapunzel's scalp. Skin tore. Hair ripped. Blood flowed. Rapunzel screamed. Her hair had barely settled onto the floor when the golden colour began draining out of it leaving only a drab brown in its place. Shockingly scarlet blood splashed onto the stony ground.

Rapunzel's screams echoed with Pitch's cackling laughter. Rapunzel screamed louder as the plane scraped the bone. Blood flowed faster still.

Hair continued to fall.

Screams.

Hair.

Laughter.

Blood... blood... blood...

At last, when all flesh and hair was scraped away, Pitch withdrew the plane. With a flex of his fingers, the plane dissolved into a small cloud of black sand.

Rapunzel was lying crumpled on the floor. Her skull was now visible and was heavily was with red from blood. All 70ft of her brown hair was lying strewn around the floor.

Pitch smiled, turned on his heel, and left the poor girl sobbing on the floor of the cell.

Hiccup's Punishment

Hiccup was lying on an examination table, his wrists and ankles bound with manacles and his mouth gagged. He'd heard those horrifying screams and now he was sweating with panic and crying in sympathy.

He tried to struggle, but every time he tried to do so the manacles tightened painfully. Fearlings and nightmares crept around the room, eyeing him, clearly relishing in his fear. Drops of black saliva trickled down their chops as the terrified teenager shuddered with fear.

The leaden door into the cell opened. The foreboding figure of the Nightmare king swept into the room, his cloak trailing across the ground. The fearlings drew back a little, hissing in excitement and blood lust. Their eyes glinted.

'Ah, Viking boy,' Pitch said, 'Are you enjoying yourself?' 'MMHH!' Hiccup tried to yell through his gag. 'Oh, how foolish of me,' Pitch said. He waved his hand and the gag in Hiccup's mouth dissolved. Hiccup spat out a few final grains of sand.

'Let me go!' Hiccup snapped. He tried to sound threatening, but he sounded like little more than a terrified mouse. Pitch laughed coldly and Hiccup's skin erupted in goosebumps.

'I asked this same question of Rapunzel: What is your mission with the other three?' 'That's none of your business,' Hiccup spat angrily, 'Besides what makes you think we're up to anything.' Pitch frowned and took something out of the recesses of his cloak. Hiccup barely prevented an expression of horror from crossing his face.

In his hand, Pitch was holding the Chalice of the Blessed Eye. 'I may not be familiar with this particular Goblet, but I do recognise this emerald in the bottom.' The emerald in question glittered and shone. 'This particular stone comes from the planet Fervefacio. I remember because this was one of my earliest victories. What I'd like to know is where you got it from.'

'I'm not telling you anything,' Hiccup said. His voice was quivering. 'I was really hoping you'd say that,' Pitch said. He was now smiling, showing needle-sharp teeth. Pitch reached into his cloak and took out a hacksaw. He lent close to Hiccup. His smile was virtually poisonous.

As fast as a whip-crack, Pitch swooped down on Hiccup's hand and began to saw his knuckles. '-!' Before Hiccup could cry out in pain, the gag wrapped around Hiccup's mouth again and stifled his voice.

As the saw drove deeper, blood spurted out of Hiccup's joints, splashing all over the table. Hiccup tried to scream louder and thrash, but all that did was allow the saw to dive deeper with less effort on its part.

There was a horrid last sound: A cross between a splat and a crack. Hiccup's fingers were finally sawn off completely. With a bloody thunk, they hit the table. Pitch picked up the severed index finger. A large drop of blood dripped off the ragged base.

Quick as a lightning flash, Pitch's tongue lashed out and caught the drop of scarlet blood. Pitch's eyes flashed with blood lust. Tears were streaming down Hiccup's face. Pitch strode down to the opposite end of the table. He grabbed Hiccup's right ankle, raised the saw and began to cut.

'MMMHHH!' Hiccup yelled, writhing and thrashing. The saw cut deeper, through the sinews, tendons, cartilage, ligaments, arteries, muscles and finally the bone itself. "SLASH!" With a spurt of blood, the foot was severed completely. Hiccup's back arched. Tears of agony were spilling onto the floor.

'Anytime you change your mind, you can tell me anything,' Pitch said sweetly. Hiccup shook his head furiously. Pitch sighed mournfully. 'Very well then.'

The blade fell upon Hiccup with no mercy. The poor boy felt pain like he had never known. No matter what he tried to do, Pitch had control.

By the end, Hiccup was as pale as death itself. His only colour came from his hair and his blood stains. His eyes were streaked with dried tears.

With a wave of his hand, streams of sand flowed from Pitch's fingers and sealed Hiccup's wounds. 'So you don't bleed to death,' he said, 'I haven't finished with you yet.'

Hiccup's feet and fingers were now lying scattered on the floor. Pitch smiled, turned and left the ex-head of the Berk Dragon Training Academy lying in a state of half-death on the table.

Merida's Punishment

Merida wasn't idle. She was pacing up and down in her cell, muttering angrily under her breath. She had heard Rapunzel's screams and Hiccup's thrashings, but she had tried to live by a new code: "Don't get scared, Get angry!" although it was starting to lose its power.

She kicked the wall.

'Could you mind not damaging my property.' Pitch entered the lead-lined cell, a mild expression of disdain on his face. 'Until yeh let us go, ya bassa,' Merida yelled at him, 'Ah'll do what ever ah bloody well like!'

She raised a fist and charged at Pitch. He looked quite unalarmed. Merida's clenched fist was barely inches away when... VWOOM! An aura of blackness surrounded Merida and she became instantly paralysed. She was stuck there, looking like a Greek Olympic statue.

Pitch smiled cruelly. 'That's nae fair,' Merida snarled. 'All's fair in love and war,' Pitch said, 'But this is mostly war.' With a flex of his fingers, Pitch sent Merida careering backwards onto the floor. With a sickening "whack", Merida hit her head on the rocky ground and became concussed. Before she could recover, the floor rose up in a great stone slab.

Merida groaned. Slowly, she returned entirely to consciousness. She tried to sit up and discovered she was bound. Her arms her locked to her sides with manacles. 'Ach, crivens,' she cursed. Turning her head, she could see Pitch examining a small metal box. He was also holding something long and thin wrapped in black silk. 'I would like you to answer my next question,' he said and before Merida could protest, he unwrapped the silk; 'Where did you get this sword?' he hissed in a dangerously quiet voice.

He was holding Cytiaina by the hilt. The shadows in the room maybe retreated a little. 'The diamond that forms the blade is of purest quality and is imbued with raw starlight. I can't even touch it without protection.' Looking at his hand, Merida saw that Pitch was wearing black silk gloves. 'Such a weapon is beyond the crafting abilities of even the most skilled blacksmith who currently exists anywhere in this Universe. So where did you get this?' 'Like I'd ever tell you,' Merida snarled.

'I warn you now,' Pitch said, 'Don't make the same mistake your Viking friend made. I am giving you this one chance. Tell me where you got this sword and I will leave you completely... or almost completely intact.'

'OVER MY DEAD BODY!'

Pitch closed his eyes mournfully.

He strode across the room to the metal box, opened it and took something out. It glinted in the dim light.

It was a scalpel.

'I've noticed one similarity between you and Frost,' Pitch said, examining the deathly-sharp blade, 'You both have the same coloured eyes.' He turned to Merida who it seemed had already guessed what was going to happen. 'We can soon fix that.'

He walked towards Merida. He raised the scalpel. He plunged it down into her eyes.

... ... ... ...

Pitch wiped blood and vitreous from the scalpels' blade. He surveyed the unconscious form of Merida. She had been extremely brave and a little bit lucky. She had refused to scream to matter what. Eventually though the pain had gotten too much for her and she had passed out.

Pitch stared triumphantly at the two bloody holes that barely an hour previously had been a working pair of eyes.

Pitch placed the scalpel back in it's box.

'And now for you Frost.'

Jack's Punishment

Jack was sitting bound in a chair, facing a screen showing images of the different cells. Manacles holding his ankles and wrists in place. His eyes were kept open by optical speculum; he was forced to watch as his friends were viciously and brutally tortured. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and were freezing into ice crystals as they fell off of his face. Nightmares and fearlings were swarming around him glorying in his despair.

Pitch entered the cell. The expression on his face was none less than pure delight. 'Did you enjoy the show Jack?' Pitch said, leaning down to stare into Jack's reddened eyes. Jack didn't make a sound. He couldn't. He had lost the will to. 'You can speak you know Jack,' Pitch said, 'Go on then, say something.' Still Jack said nothing. He couldn't find anything to say.

'I said, SPEAK!' Pitch struck Jack across the face. Jack gave a small yelp of pain. The speculum holding his eyes open slipped and stabbed down. With another cry of pain, Jack managed to finally shake them free.

Pitch laughed more cruelly then Jack had ever heard him laugh before. 'Are you whimpering over a little pain like that? Your dear little girlfriend Merida had her eyes cut out and she barely let a scream slip her lips and you're whimpering over a small piece of equipment getting into your eyes and then being blinked away?' Pitch gave Jack an almost pitying look.

'You're pathetic.' Pitch looked into Jack's eyes. 'What are you Jack?' Jack looked at Pitch's sallow face. Tears still streaming down the winter spirit's face.

'I'm... pathetic.' And with that, Jack broke down completely, sobbing. And with that, Pitch performed his worst trick.

Rapunzel: shaved and scarred. Hiccup: Dismembered and bleeding. Merida: Blind and comatose.

Jack: ...

Three of the four were huddled in the corner of a small cell. Rapunzel was still clinging to her shaved hair, partly for warmth, partly for reassurance. Hiccup was cradling the stumps of his limbs. Merida was just sitting there.

Suddenly, the door opened and a frail figure was thrown in. It took a few moments to recognise it. 'JACK!' Rapunzel shrieked in horror. 'What's happened?' Merida asked frantically, feeling around in panic. Hiccup crawled over. 'Oh my...'

Jack was barely a shadow of his former self. He was stark naked, covered with sweat. His body was covered with hundreds of bleeding scars and bruises. His eyes were clouded.

'Jack, what happened to you?' Merida asked.

'Pitch... raped me...'