Here it is, another chapter to Imagine. I may not be doing this so much soon, with school coming up. So enjoy these while you can.
"NNOO!" Jack and I shouted at the same time. Mini-me stared at her torso; the arrow dissolved, and from where it hit a black stain was just growing bigger. The nightmares were eating away at her. She fell from where she was in the sky, with Pitch laughing in the background. I wanted him to shut up. From Mini-me's upside down vision I saw Jack make a huge ice blast at them and rush toward Mini-me's aid. Pitch and his nightmares then left, thinking he had done enough for the time being.
Jack caught Mini-me and froze a patch of ocean for them to land on. Meanwhile I was screaming in my head.
"Mini-me, you'll be alright, just go back inside my head!"
"I can't Ema," said Mini-me. "I'm solid."
"Then make yourself unsolid," I said.
"It's too late for that."
"Don't tell me it's too late," I said. "I'll do it then."
"Ema, you don't have your powers with you at the moment."
"Especially don't tell me that."
Jack landed with Mini-me on the ice patch. He was just as panicked as I was.
"Ema, you're going to be alright, just hang on," he said.
"It's too late, Jack," said Mini-me.
"Don't tell me it's too late; don't leave me. Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for leaving you."
"Don't apologize to me," said Mini-me.
"No, Ema, stop, you…"
"Jack, listen, there's not much time," said Mini-me. "I'm sorry, for resenting you, I never should have; Ema needed a friend, a real one, and that's what you gave her, and so much more."
"Why are you talking in the third person?" said Jack, freaking out.
"You are a real friend to me, Mini-me," I said. "I'm sorry I ever made you feel that way."
"Ema, let go," she said. "Break the connection."
"No, don't break the connection!" said Jack, not knowing what that meant.
"No," I said. "If you're going I want to be there with you when you do." If she was being destroyed and I didn't have my powers, I wouldn't be able to make her again.
"Ema," she said scolding. "You are basically an illusion right now; you're not so solid, if you don't break it you'll be destroyed as well."
"What are you talking about?" said Jack frantic.
"I'll give you solidity to be you again, but you have to let go," said Mini-me telepathically so Jack wouldn't freak out. I couldn't stop my tears.
"Goodbye Mini-me," I said choked up.
"Goodbye Ema," she said as I broke the connection. I waited fifteen painful seconds, and then I checked.
"Mini-me," I said in desperation. All I heard was silence. "Mini-me, come in! Come in! Come in! COME IN! Come in." I started to sob. She was gone. I was trapped in there, and she was gone. She was gone and she wasn't coming back. She was a close friend of mine, and I lost her. I never truly appreciated her for what she was to me.
I had another terrifying thought; Jack didn't know that wasn't me. He thought I was dead! He was sure to tell the guardians and then they would think I was dead! Pitch thought I was dead! All hope was lost, because I had been hidden away. It's all because I had to get my stupid memories. I hated myself at that moment for being stupid; I hated my memories for drawing me into the box where I'm trapped, I hated my stupid fears, I hated my weakness, I hated those guardians for getting me into this mess, I hated cupid for stealing my memories, I hated the leprechauns and the groundhog for not holding on to my memories, I hated the demons for giving them to Pitch, I hated the moon for tormenting me for 275 years, but most of all, I hated Pitch Black. He killed Mini-me. If I ever saw him again, he would regret it; he was going to pay for what he did!
In the meantime, I had to make sure I got through this. I didn't know if I had air or how much I had left. There was one thing I could think of to save me, I had to go into stasis. It wasn't easy now that I had lost most of my powers, but stasis seemed like something I could still do. I closed my eyes and everything went still.
Apparently, that sand grain lodged in my eye still worked in stasis; perfect. I say that sarcastically, but also literally. Pitch wanted to talk to me again, let him, so I could give him the beating he deserves.
First, I had a nightmare, one where Pitch was taking over and hurting everyone I cared about while I was still trapped in the dang box and couldn't do anything about it! After that was over, Pitch appeared.
"Well, you just keep surprising me. I thought I destroyed you." I turned abruptly to him.
"Oh no, you didn't; anything you do to me just makes me come back stronger than ever!"
"You're still trapped in my box," said Pitch smugly.
"Yes I am; that doesn't change anything; now that you're here, I can do this!" I lunged at him. He just disappeared and appeared somewhere else.
"Aw, you're livid with me, how adorable," he said. "Is this all because I destroyed that illusion of yours, or because I trapped you in the box to begin with?"
"Both," I said charging him, causing him to do the same as before. "And don't call her an illusion, she was more than that!"
"Please, like I don't already know about that," he said. "It was all in your fears. You were afraid of people finding out that you had a little illusion of yourself you liked to talk to, made out of your inner thoughts. Now those thoughts are just thoughts, with no body to them, aren't they Ema." I tried to attack him again. "Just stop, you have nopower in here," he said, pushing me to the ground with nightmare sand, and then pinning me there. He came up really close to my face.
"You should be proud that you can lie to yourself so well; it turns out you do like yourself after all; it won't do you much good now, for you're my prisoner and you can't escape."
"So what are you going to do with me, huh? What are your plans?" I had pretty much given up at point.
"Simple," he said getting back up. "Everyone believes you are gone, and won't go looking for you. So I'll be keeping you here, suffering with your own nightmares so you'll be out of my way. Once I use Halloween to my advantage, regaining my strength, I will take out the guardians once and for all and make my world full of fear. After I'm done all of that, I'll come and let you out; let's see if you change your mind in here and decide to join in the winning side."
"You tried to destroy me multiple times," I said exasperated. Why wouldn't he give up on me?
"True," he said. "But you should consider that I almost succeeded once. You really don't want me as an enemy, but I could use you for an ally."
"I have no more powers," I said, trying to get him to give up. "I gave them all to that illusion you destroyed for safe keeping and to get me out of here."
"You gave that illusion a copy of your powers," said Pitch. "Your powers aren't gone, you just can't use them in that box; I know this. So, if you're willing to switch sides now, I can let you out early so you can join the fight" You think I would lie so I could out and beat the stuffing out of him. No, I already had given up on that.
"Go hide under a bed," I said instead.
"I'll wait," he said coldly. "You're grieving, but soon you'll realize that she was just an illusion and come to your senses." He left me in a cold dark void.
"Yeah," I said. "Like that will ever happen." Of course, I was still trapped in that box with my own nightmares in stasis. How was I getting out of this one?
Yeah, so that is chapter 44. She is in a real pickle now, and hope is lost, or is it? You need to stay tuned to find out what happens next.
